An Odd Love
by Bighoggi14
Summary: Odd has helped a new girl out at school, and now they have welcomed her into their group. She doesn't know about Lyoko, and they don't plan on telling her for a while, but she has a couple of surprises in store for them...
1. Avery

**An Odd Love**

By: Bighoggi14

(Odd P.O.V.)

Today was a boring day. Got up, ate breakfast, went to class, ate lunch, finished our last class. Nothing happened, even XANA seems to be trying to bore us to death, he hasn't attacked in a couple of days.

_Oh well. Maybe this will give me some time to find a new girlfriend. Marie only lasted about a week, and I haven't had one for a couple of weeks._

I walked back to our dorms with Ulrich, looking for something to do. We passed the soccer field and the thought interests me.

"Hey Ulrich, wanna play some soccer?"

"Shouldn't you be doing you history homework?" Ulrich says looking skeptical.

"Nah, I can do that later."

"Whatever. It just gives me another chance to beat you." Ulrich says and smiles. I smile right back. "Sure, go ahead and think that. That last game you only won by a lucky shot." It's true, our last game we were tied at 4-4 and Ulrich had the ball. He just took a shot and I lunged for it. I fell short by about three inches, and it soared past into the goal.

"Come on, let's go. I'm going to beat you this time." I say and we run off towards the field. We start playing and it's a fair match all the way. Ulrich manages to get one past me, and I get two past him. He coming towards me again and I ready myself. He kicks it, hard, and it flies towards me. I just about intercept it when I feel myself fall and I hit the ground. I look around and see Ulrich scored a goal, and I just tripped in a small hole. It's small enough so that the maintenance people won't fill it in, but deep enough that someone small like me can trip in it.

"No fair." I say standing up.

"Plenty fair. You tripped, and it's your fault. You should have been watching where you were going." Ulrich says smugly.

"How can I watch where I'm going and the ball at the same time? You know my grades, I'm not that smart." I say laughing and run over to get the ball. I grab the ball and kick it over to Ulrich.

"Next point wins?" I ask.

"Sure… easy way for me to win sooner." He says, and gets ready. I kick the ball around to the side and run past him. He runs along side with me, and suddenly stops. I rush past and score the goal.

"Gooooooaaaaaal!" I yell, hopping around like a maniac. I look back to Ulrich and wonder why he stopped. He's standing there, talking to Yumi.

_Great. Now that they're going out, I'll never be able to play an entire game again._

Ulrich and Yumi have been going out for about two weeks. Ulrich (after some serious prodding by me and Jeremie) finally got up the nerve to ask her out. She immediately accepted. I don't think he really told her his feelings, but they are going out anyway. They both know that they're crazy about each other, but refuse to admit it.

"Hey Romeo, did you realize I just won?" I shout over to them.

"Yah, sure Odd." Ulrich says looking distracted. He's busy talking to Yumi so I run over to them.

"So, when do you want to go?" Ulrich asks her.

"How about now? I've got nothing planned for the rest of the day… Oh hi Odd." Yumi says and notices me.

"Okay, right now is fine for me too. That is if Odd doesn't mind me just abandoning our game…."

"That depends on where you're going." I say, looking interested even though I'm not.

"We're going to go see a movie. Do you want to come? We could invite Jeremie and Aelita too." Ulrich says happily.

"Is it a chickflick?" I ask, already knowing what the answer is going to be.

"I don't know, I've never seen it." Ulrich says, but he gives me a look that says _'yup. But if you go, we could see something else. Please come!'_

"It doesn't matter, I don't really feel like going to a movie right now. You two go have fun. And just so you know Ulrich, I just won the game, so you're not abandoning it." I walk off waving. They wave back and walk towards the city, hand in hand. I call Jeremie to see if he was doing anything interesting."Hi Odd." He says.

"Hey Einstein, whatcha doin?"

"Actually, I'm at the factory working-."

"-on Aelita's anti-virus?" I finish.

"How did you know?"

"What else do you do in you're free time? So, made any progress?"

"Actually yes. Using the data we retrieved from sector 5 last time, I managed to create a program to scan Aelita's sub-code to see if the file system used to retrieve valuable lines of code is a NTFS or a-."

"Hold on Einstein. I didn't understand a word you just said." I interrupt.

"I didn't think you would. This is advanced computer programming, I doubt I could ever explain it to you."

"Aelita there with you?"

"Yes."

"Okay, just checking. I'll see you at dinner. Bye." I say and hang up. I head back to my dorm, looking for something to do. Because of the way the school is, the fastest way to get to my room from the soccer field is by walking through a not-used-very-often part of the grounds.

_Well, maybe I can go and make up a new song. That usually helps to pass the time._

"Excuse me? Can you help me?" I turn to my left and see a girl standing there looking hopelessly lost and confused. She's wearing average-looking jeans, a gray sweatshirt, and has long, silky brown hair that goes past her shoulders. She wore no makeup that I could tell, but I don't think she needed it.

_Oh my god. This girl has got to be the prettiest girl I have ever seen…_

"Yah, sure. What do you need?" I ask gently.

"I'm new here, I just got here earlier today, and I got lost. Can you help me?"

"Sure, just tell me where you need to go." I say and lead her back towards a more well known part of the grounds.

"Um, I'm not sure. I don't even know where my room is. I do know it's number, it's number 147." She says timidly.

"I know where that is, it's in my building. Just a floor below me. Do you want to go there now?"

"Sure." We walk towards the dorms in silence.

"Here we are. Do you need help moving in?" I ask.

"Um… maybe a little." She says. "But you don't need to. I'm sure I can do this by myself." She quickly continues.

"It's no problem. I was looking for something to do anyway. What do you need help with?"

"I have about four boxes in the principal's office. I really don't need any help, I can do this."

"No, seriously. If I come too, we can get it done in one trip. If you did it yourself, you would have to take two or three."

"Thanks." We quickly walk over to the principal's office and grab the boxes. We take them back to her room, and I set them down on her bed. She has a small, one bed dorm, so she won't have to share with anyone.

"I can handle it from here." She says and walks to me. "Thanks for all your help."

"No problem… what's your name?" I ask. I just realized I don't even know her name.

"Avery. Avery Hathawaye is my name. What is yours?"

"I'm Odd."

"What? No, you don't seem very strange to me." I start laughing.

"No, that's my name. My name is Odd Della-Robbia."

"Oh. Nice to meet you Odd." She offers her hand and I shake it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too Avery. Should I come back at dinnertime?"

"Yes please. I don't know my way around this school yet. Thanks Odd, your the first person here who's really helped me."

"It's no problem, Have you met anyone else?"

"The principal called in his daughter to take me to my room. She asked me if I wanted to join her group and I said no. She seemed so stuck up. After that she left me and I wandered around for about an hour before you found me."

"Yah, you have to watch out for Sissi. She thinks because her daddys the principal, she can do whatever she wants."

"Okay, i'll be careful around her." She says slowly. I get the hint, it's time for me to leave.

"Dinner's at seven, so I'll be here about five till, okay?"

"Alright. Thanks again." She says and I walk out the door, feeling happy.

_Oh my God, she is so hott... I can't believe I am the first friend she's found here. Sissi's such a bitch._ I walk back to my dorm and think about my new friend.

* * *

**Just a thought that came into my head during science class. I was planning on leaving it a oneshot, but if you want me to continue I will. If you want me to continue, give me a couple of new ideas. Please R&R, it means a lot to a writer.  
**


	2. Introductions with a slip

**Okay, I was going to leave it a oneshot, but you convinced me otherwise. You'd better enjoy it, it took me two days to think this up!**

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

I walked back to my dorm thinking about this new girl. It still bothers me that Sissi would actually leave a new student somewhere without telling her anything.

_I think I've lost any confidence I ever had in Sissi. She was being nice to us for a while there… but I think she was just trying to get to Ulrich. Now that I think of it, Sissi basically stopped talking to any of us since Ulrich and Yumi started dating._

I walked into my dorm and pulled out my guitar. I started strumming absent-mindedly. I was thinking about Avery still, and I just made a new song. It popped into my head. I played it, it sounded good. It was unique, like nothing I've ever heard before. Like a rock love song, but it had fast-paced parts too. I like it; I'll play it for Ulrich later. I play through it again, scribbling it on a piece of paper every couple of seconds so I wouldn't forget. I take a look at the clock, it 6:57.

_Oh crap, I lost track of time! I better go down and get Avery._

I quickly toss my guitar back in its case and run out the door. I sprint to the end of the hall and take the stairs three at a time, jumping down the last eight. I feel slight pain go up my leg from the impact, but keep running in stride. I screech to a halt in front of her door and knock, kneeling over trying to catch my breath. She opens the door and looks at me.

"Forgot?"

"Yah, sorry. I was playing guitar in my room and made up a new song. I was writing it down and lost track of time." I say. I grab her hand, and pull her along. I suddenly realize what I'm doing and stop.

"Oh my gosh I'm sorry. I get really excited when it comes to food. I didn't mean to pull you along like that." I say apologetically.

"That's okay, I understand. I can get pretty excited about food too. I just wasn't expecting you to grab my hand." I blush. I didn't really realize I was holding her hand. "Now come on, I'm hungry." She says.

"Okay then." I say and we walk quickly to the cafeteria. We get in line at 7:04 and there's still plenty of food left. I load up my plate with everything. Avery follows suit.

"Woah, watch out for the meatloaf surprise. I'm the only one I know that likes it." I say warningly when she steps up for some.

"Thanks, but I'm so hungry I could eat a truck. I think anything would be good right now. I haven't eaten any real meals since yesterday, I only had some snacks on the plane and some food from the vending machines."

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you." I say and grab some pudding for dessert. We walk over to the table but before we get there, I stop. A mischievous thought cam in to my head; I put a finger to my lips telling Avery to be quiet and put my tray on a nearby table. I walk around the long way to the table, coming from the way Ulrich isn't facing. I put my finger to my lips again when Jeremie and Aelita see me, telling them to be quiet too. They return to their conversation with Ulrich. I sneak behind Ulrich and manage to get right behind him without him noticing. I wait, looking for a chance to strike.

"-I wonder where Odd is, it's not like him to be late for dinner." Ulrich says looking at Jeremie.

"I don't know, I haven't seen him." Jeremie says, smiling slightly.

"Well, I'm not behind you…" I say softly and quickly. I duck before Ulrich sees me.

"Did you just hear that?" Ulrich says turning around.

"Hear what? I didn't hear anything." Aelita says. She can barely contain herself.

"I thought I heard someone behind me…" He says and turns around. Luckily, he didn't look down, I was flat on the floor. I quickly get up again and lean down.

"You did hear someone…" I say and duck again. Ulrich stands up and looks around.

"Okay, now I know I hear something." He says.

"Are you sure Ulrich? I haven't heard a thing." Jeremie says.

"Me neither." Aelita says laughing.

"Yah Ulrich, I haven't heard a thing." I say from the ground. Ulrich looks down and sees me lying there with my hands behind my head

"Odd! That wasn't funny."

"Are you sure? I think Avery thought it was funny." I say looking over at her. She's standing there with her hands over her mouth, trying not to laugh. I get up and dust myself off.

"Who's Avery?" Ulrich asks looking confused. I walk over to her and lead her to our table.

"Guys, this is Avery. She's new here. Avery, this is Ulrich. Yes he's taken." I say pointing to Ulrich. He gives me a scowl but waves.

"This is Jeremie otherwise known as Einstein." I point to Jeremie, who nods.

"And the only other girl present, Aelita. Yes, pink is her natural hair color. She's with Jeremie." I grab my tray and set it down, grabbing a chair for Avery. She sits down next to me and I start eating.

"So how long have you been here?" Jeremie says to Avery.

"My plane just got in this morning." She says timidly.

"Yashewazwakinarondandthnifowndher." I say through a mouthful of food, accidentally spiting crumbs all over the table.

"What?" Everyone says at once and starts laughing. I swallow and repeat myself.

"She was walking around and I found her. Sissi was supposed to take her to her room but she ditched her."

"Why did she ditch you?" Aelita asks.

"She wanted me to join her group. She was the 'popular' kid in school and wanted to share it with me or something…. I didn't want to rush to make friends so I politely declined. Then she walked off laughing, saying something like next you're going to be joining my dear Ulrich's group!" We all start laughing at the thought of Sissi being right.

"So I'm assuming she was talking about you…?" Avery asks quietly.

"Yah, that would be Sissi. You would do well to stay away from her."

"That's not very nice to say about your girlfriend." She says. I give a start and start choking on my food. Ulrich gives me a couple of slaps on the back and I swallow.

"What makes you think Ulrich is dating Sissi?" I say after I recover.

"He's not? Damn, I'm so sorry. I just kinda assumed that when Odd said you were taken and then she said you were her Ulrich dear."

"Thanks a lot Odd. No, I'm not dating Sissi."

"If you're not dating Sissi, then who? Unless Odd was lying…" I start looking around innocently, getting a giggle from Avery. When Ulrich doesn't respond, I decide to help him out.

"Okay Ulrich… her name starts with a 'Y.' Then a 'U'… come on, you should know this!" I get another giggle from Avery, Jeremie and Aelita start laughing, but Ulrich just glares at me.

"I think he's in shock. He's been looking forward to dating her for so long, he's having trouble coping with the fact that it finally came true!" I say, getting them to laugh again.

"Is it Yumi?" Asks Avery and we all sit there shocked.

_How does she know about Yumi?_

(Avery P.O.V.)

"… with a 'Y.' Then a 'U'… come on, you should know this!" Odd says and I start giggling quietly.

_Wait a minute… Y-U-… could it be Yumi? Mom told me Yumi went to a boarding school in France… what are the odds?_

Ulrich glares at Odd and I remember something Yumi wrote to me in a letter a couple of years ago…

Avery,

I just came to a new boarding school in France. It's even farther away from the states than japan… I hope we can still keep in touch. It was only my first day here as a seventh grader, but I already met a couple of new friends. One is named **Odd**, and from what I saw today he lives up to his name. There's also another boy named **Jeremie,** he's really smart. But there was another boy too… he's really cute. Oh my gosh, he is so cute. I wish I could send you a picture, but it wouldn't be very appropriate to ask for one after I just met him. His name is **Ulrich**, he's got dark brown hair and he's very athletic. He's got these piercing brown eyes that just seem to look right into my heart… I wish you could be here, I miss you.

All my love,  
Yumi

I think back about that letter. It was the second to last letter she wrote to me. I wish we had kept in better contact.

_But what are the odds that I come to the same boarding school as Yumi? I never even remembered she was in France until just now. But in her letter she mentioned Odd and Jeremie and Ulrich… too much of a coincidence._

"I think he's in shock. He's been looking forward to dating her for so long, he's having trouble coping with the fact that it finally came true!" Odd says, making us laugh again.

_Okay, maybe it isn't so. The Yumi I know would never reveal that she liked a boy, let alone date him… and she never mentioned Aelita. But I guess there's no harm in finding out._

"Is it Yumi?" I ask and everyone stops laughing. They stare at me like I'm the devil incarnate.

"What? Did I say something weird?" I ask quickly. "If I did, I'm sorry." All of the sudden, Odd grabs my head and looks into my eyes. I look back and see the most amazing sight ever.

_Oh my god. He has got the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen…_

I start blushing. After a second, Odd pulls away and gives a sigh of relief.

"It's okay, no XANA." Odd says quietly. Everyone at the table lets out a sigh. I realize I am still blushing and look away, Odd does too. I think I saw a hint of rose color on his pale cheeks.

"Um… anyone care to explain?" I ask completely bewildered.

"Ummm… uhhh… so wait. How did you know about Yumi?" Odd says, turning to look at me.

_I must have been imagining it; there's no blush now._

"I'm not sure we're thinking about the same Yumi. I don't think the Yumi I'm thinking of would be dating anyone. Besides we lost touch a long time ago."

"Are you sure? Her name's Yumi Ishiyama. She's Japanese, moved here a couple of years ago, only wears black." Ulrich says somewhat excitedly.

"I don't remember her last name… she was Japanese. She liked black a lot, but didn't wear it all the time. I remember her wearing pink once." I say slowly.

"Haha, that's not Yumi. I could never picture Yumi wearing pink." Odd says.

"How do you know the Yumi you do?" Jeremie asks.

"She was kind of related. Like really distantly. My mom's cousin like married her dad's brother… or something like that."

"I guess there's only one way to find out. We'll just have to introduce her to our Yumi tomorrow." Aelita says happily.

"Why not today? Where is she?" I ask. I really want to meet this Yumi they are talking about.

"Yumi is a day student, she comes here for classes and goes home afterwards." Jeremie says and stands up to dump his tray.

"Hey Einstein, are you going to eat your pudding?" Odd says quickly.

"No, here you go. Odd, if you don't stop eating you will get fat."

"Nah, I wont get fat because off all the XANA attacks. They keep me- oh shit." Odd looks at me weirdly. Like he's sort of scared.

"Okay, what's with this zana I keep hearing about?" I ask. All of the sudden, Jeremie, Aelita and Ulrich stand up.

"Well, I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed early today." Aelita says and turns around.

"I'll walk you there." Jeremie says.

"I, uh… need to get some help from Jeremie. I'm uh… not very good at math." It was almost a question more than a statement. They leave and I turn to Odd.

"Well, since you're the only one left, care to explain?" I say to Odd, who is stuffing himself again.

"Uh… uh… um…." He stutters.

* * *

**Okay, another chappy. I hope you liked it, otherwise I spent a lot of time on CRAP. I need you guys to keep giving me good ideas, most of my original ideas went into my other fanfics... R&R plz!**  



	3. Virus Protection

**Sorry it took so long to update... being banned from the computer doesn't help any. Please enjoy...**

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

"Well, since you're the only one left, care to explain?" Avery looks at me expectantly. Unfortunately, my I'm-trying-to-eat-please-don't-talk-to-me-right-now act wasn't working.

"Uh…uh…um…" I stutter, racking my brain for anything that could help, like a distraction or something. Anything! "Hey, what classes do you have for tomorrow?" Even an idiot like me can tell I just tried to change the subject.

"Not going to work Odd. You changed the subject. Anyway, I don't have classes until next Monday, there was a problem during my record transfers."

"Oh really? I wonder what happened… maybe Sissi had something to do with it."

"Stop trying to change the subject. Who is XANA?"

_Shit. I'm so stupid! I've kept this secret for more than a year, and now I just blew it to some girl I barely know? Nice going Odd!_

"Um… oh shit. I'm not going to get out of this easily am I?" I say squirming in my seat. Avery seemed to notice my discomfort.

"Not really. Is this some really big secret? Is everyone else in on this?" She says gently.

_She's trying to sweet talk me into telling!_

"Yes, everyone else knows. Well actually, not everyone. Just Jeremie, Ulrich, Aelita, Yumi and me."

"Aha! I knew it! You are hiding a secret!" Said a high-pitched, squealing voice in my ear. I turn around to find Sissi smirking at me. "Come on Della-Robbia, tell me what it is."

"Now why would I do that?"

"You seemed ready to tell your new friend here. Who is this anyway?" She looks at Avery. "Wait a minute… you're that new girl! The one who declined the chance of a lifetime! What are you doing here? Come to try and beg to get in my dear Ulrich's gang?" Avery looks stunned.

"N-no. I just kinda…" She says with her head down.

"Cause your wasting your time. I've been trying for over a year to get accepted, and they decided that **_I_** was to good for them. So you have no chance!"

"I think that just for that Sissi, we will accept her. Thanks for giving me the idea." I say and stand up. I walk over to Avery's chair and offer my hand. She shakes it gingerly.

"Who gave you the power to decide scrawny? It's Ulrich's group, not yours."

"Ulrich accepts my decisions just as much as I accept his. I official declare Avery Hathawaye to be a part of our group as long as she stays here." I nod my head indicating for her to walk with me. "And just so you know, I'm not scrawny!" Avery stands up and we walk out of the cafeteria.

"…I'm svelte." I say as we walk outside. Avery laughs as soon as we exit.

"Thanks Odd, I owe you one." She says.

"Don't worry. Us 'losers' have to stick together against Sissi. She can be a real pain in the-."

"Still, it was really nice. Thank you." I find myself blushing and looking away.

_At least she stopped asking about XANA._

"So Odd, there obviously is a secret if Sissi wants to know… does it have to do with this XANA person?"

_Damn._

"Um… sorta."

"Sorta? Either yes or no."

"Okay, XANA has everything to do with it. Can you please not ask about it? I don't want to say anything without the approval of my friends…"

"Um… okay. I guess you have the right to your secret. Can you ask them as soon as you get the chance?"

"I certainly will. You said your school record were having problems during transfer. Does that mean you aren't from this country?"

"Yah, I moved here from a French-speaking community in the United States."

"Oh that's cool. Do you know what classes you have?"

"No. I'm technically not even a registered student at this school yet."

"So when do you start classes?"

"Monday."

"But that's like a week from now! No fair, you get to skip school for the whole week? I wish I was that lucky."

"I'm not lucky, I get to sit around all day for a week and do nothing. Not my idea of lucky."

"Well, still, no school for you."

"Yah, I guess that's pretty good."

"So what do you want to do now? We still have about 2-and-a-half hours before curfew."

"I don't know. But I'm tired. I haven't gotten an adequate amount of sleep for a couple of days…"

"Say no more, I understand. If there's anyone who appreciates getting more sleep around here it's me. I'll take you to your dorm."

"No, it's okay. I can seriously go without sleep. I'll have plenty of time tomorrow-."

"Oh, no little missy. You march off to your dorm room right now." I say in a Texan accent.

"But-."

"And I don wanna hear no buts neither! Do I need to bring out the cattle prod?" I say jokingly, still with a Texan accent.

"Thank you Farmer Brown. And how dare you threaten me with a cattle prod!"

"Okay fine, I withdraw the threat. But you should still go to bed, it's probably been a long day." I start leading her to the dorms.

"Okay, if you are (yawn) sure. If I wasn't so tired, I would be resisting right now…"

"I understand. Seriously, I have some things to do anyway."

"Okay. Goodnight Odd, I'll see you in the morning."

(Avery P.O.V.)

"…I'll see you in the morning." I say to Odd and open my door.

"Just so you know, the showers are down the hall. Breakfast is at seven, and I'll see you there. Goodnight, my lady." He gives me a graceful, possibly over-exaggerated bow, and leaves.

"Okay. Goodnight." I walk inside and shut the door. The bed looks so comfy right now, but I can't. I have things I need to take care of first. I take my laptop out of my bag, I'm glad I have this. This laptop is my pride and joy; I take care of it with the utmost care. The last virus that tried to get into it was annihilated in a matter of hours; I even traced it back to the source and destroyed it. I check for e-mails from my friends who are back in the states. None. I perform the scheduled maintenance on it, virus checks and so forth. While that's going, I decide to open my music player. I get kinda depressed when I can't listen to my music after a while. I play a song and listen contentedly. I lay down on my bed so I can be more comfortable. Big mistake. Before I knew it, my eyes were closing and I was asleep.

* * *

I woke up to my laptop beeping loudly at me. I look at the time; it's a little past midnight. I look at the alarm; it looks like a virus trying to penetrate into my computer. And it's giving it a really good try; it's managed to get past eight of my eleven personal firewalls.

_Wow. This must be really good. The government couldn't even get past two._

I quickly set up two more backup firewalls and begin my search and destroy mission. As I search, I become more and more amazed. It seems that this virus managed to hack into my computer in the first place by generating an extremely large wireless network area. I trace it back to the source, and get the coordinates. I pull up a map of the area and find that it's coming from an old abandoned building by the river.

_How weird. Why would a virus come from an old factory?_

I quickly hack into the city's power mainframe and discover something odd. There's very low amounts of power going into the factory, not enough for a computer that is powerful enough to create a virus of this magnitude. I decide that I have to do this the hard way. Usually I can just shut off all power to the building. The computer that created the virus will shut down, ending my problem. This wasn't going to be so easy. I follow the signal back to its source, the antennae of the school. From there, I can tell that the virus followed a long line of electric cables back to the old factory. I follow the same lines and come up to a large computer mainframe. It's definitely the largest I have ever seen, even bigger than some supercomputers I've seen.

_This must be one massive computer… but it requires no power! How is that possible? It must have it's own power source._

I search through the computer; it doesn't have much empty space on it. From what I can tell, there are two cells, one is huge, and it takes up most of the space. The other one is big, but not as big as the other is. Both are protected, there is no way to hack into them. A transfer program occupies the rest of the space. It seems to just take information from one location, marked Scanners, and transfer it into another location, marked Lyoko. Both are encrypted so I cannot access them. The program looks like it's not in a cell so it can be accessed quickly, but it's still password protected. I could hack into these, but it would take all night, and I'm still tired. The virus comes from the larger cell, so I put up a massive firewall to prevent it from going anywhere. It might get around it, but it will take it a couple of days. I can find a better solution then. I put my laptop back on the table and lie back down. It's nearly one; I just wasted an hour of sleepy time. I promptly fall asleep, dreaming of Odd…

* * *

**Merry Christmas to all! If anybody has any ideas for this story, please give them to me! I don't have many left, and they are going to run out soon! R&R please! I'm not going to post the next chappy until i get a couple more!**

**(Just as a side note, i used my personal inferences about the supercalculater and what happens with it. This may not be true, if it isn't please don't rag on me about it.) **


	4. Avery is Missing!

**Here's another chappy. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

I wake up before Ulrich (which is weird because it doesn't happen often) so I decide to have a little fun. I go kneel next to his bed and whisper in his ear.

"Ulrich… oh Ulrich… it's me Yumi. Won't you wake up for me?" I say in the most girly-ish voice I can.

"Mmm… Yumi… Yumi?" He says stirring.

"Ulrich, oh no Ulrich! XANA's going to get me! Help! Oh no!" I say still quietly. It's hard to keep from laughing.

"Yumi… Yumi…" He says, practically in convulsions. "Yumi! I'm coming!"

"Ulrich help me!" I shout in his ear and he jolts up. He jumps out of bed and is immediately in fighting position. He looks around confused. Meanwhile, I'm rolling on the floor laughing. Ulrich does his signature scowl.

"Not funny Odd."

"What are you talking about that was **hilarious**!" I say between bouts of laughter. Ulrich throws a pillow at me and walks out the door towards the showers. I follow suit. I know now that Ulrich is going to give me the cold shoulder for a while, but eventually he will calm down and realize it really was funny. But he'll still never admit it. Oh well, it was funny anyway. After my shower, I head down to Avery's room. I knock a couple of times, but there's no answer. I try the doorknob, but it's locked.

"Avery? Are you in there?" I call, hoping that maybe she will answer. No such luck, it's completely silent inside. I think nothing of it and walk to the cafeteria.

Maybe she just was hungry and went on ahead… 

I get in line and take the normal stuff, which happens to be everything, and head over to our table. Jeremie, Aelita and Ulrich are there, but Avery isn't.

"Hey, have you guys seen Avery? I went to her room, but she didn't answer."

"Maybe she just wanted to sleep some more. Last time I was on a plane, I slept for a day afterwards." Ulrich suggests.

"Maybe. I think I'm going to go and check on her again…" I say, standing up.

"Odd, I'm sure she's fine." Aelita says.

"Yah, beside, you haven't even eaten yet… wait a minute, are you feeling okay?" Jeremie says.

"Yah, I feel fine, just worried about her. Is that a crime?"

"Are you sure? You have never gone without breakfast before."

"Woah, Odd actually wanted to skip breakfast? Are you the real Odd, or did XANA clone you?" Ulrich says laughing. Aelita joins in, but Jeremie doesn't find it very funny.

"Okay, you win. I'll check again after breakfast. Happy?" I sit down and start eating, but slowly. I can't help it, I don't have much of an appetite because I'm thinking to much about Avery.

_What's up with me? Why do I care so much about a girl I barely know…?_

"Are you sure you're okay Odd? You haven't said a word since you sat down."

"Yah, I'm just thinking about… stuff."

"Ooh, I think somebody has the love bug." Ulrich says, but I barely hear him. I snap to attention at the word love.

"Huh? What was that?"

"Yup, that proves it. Odd, you're in love."

"Shut up Ulrich."

"I think we've switched places now, haven't we. Now I know you're in love and I get to tease you about it while you deny it."

"It's ironic." Jeremie explains.

"What's that mean?" Ulrich and I both say at the same time. We look at each other and laugh.

"It means an odd circumstance that usually is funny. Like if Ulrich says all blondes are dumb, but then Jeremie beats him at chess." Aelita explains, but I still don't get it.

"Okay, I'll take you word for it." I respond, grateful we finally got off the topic of Avery and me.

"But that brings us back to a good point, where could Avery be? Yesterday she ate almost as much as you did, but now she skips breakfast? Weird." Jeremie says worriedly.

"Oh, I know. But I am not going to tell." Says an annoying voice right behind me. I look behind and of course, the stands Sissi.

"And how could you possibly know? Not like she would tell you anything after what you did to her yesterday." I say angrily.

"What did she do?" Aelita asks.

"She ditched her without telling her anything. Avery was wandering around for an hour before I found her."

"That's cold Sissi, even for you." Ulrich says, menace in his voice.

"So what? She deserved it. And you can forget about me telling you where she is."

"No Sissi, wait. I'm sorry." I say quickly, before I realize anything. Everybody at the table gasps in surprise. I actually said sorry to Sissi instead of insulting her?

_What the hell am I thinking?_

"Please, just tell me where she is."

"W-why should I?" Even Sissi seems amazed that I apologized.

"Please Sissi, tell me where she is, I need to know."

_Why do I need to know so bad? She's only a friend… right?_

"What will you do for me?"

"What do you want?"

"I want something from my Ulrich dear."

"No fucking-" Ulrich starts to say, but I turn around with a pleading look. Ulrich sighs. "What is it?" He asks as if he doesn't want to know the answer.

"I want you to go out with me."

"No way. Even knowing where she is isn't worth that. Besides, I'm dating Yumi."

"Fine then, just a kiss."

"Hell no." He says and looks away.

"Fine then, good luck finding Avery!"

"Okay fine Dammit. But I wont like it."

"You don't have to." I say to him, giving him the most thank you smile I can think of. Ulrich walks over to Sissi and gives her a quick kiss, making it as short as possible.

"There, happy?"

"No. I want a better one." Ulrich gives an exasperated sigh and kisses her again. Unfortunately, Yumi picked this moment in time to walk into the cafeteria.

_Oh shit. Not good, not good!_

Ulrich notices and they quickly break apart. Sissi just stands there dazed.

"Yumi wait!" But he was too late, Yumi had run out with tears in her eyes. Ulrich was quick to follow, we saw him catch up to her outside. We could hear her yelling from here.

"Ulrich what the hell was that?" Ulrich says something quietly, so we can't hear it.

"Well no duh you were kissing Sissi! Even an idiot could see that!"

"Wait Yumi, just let me explain!" But he was too late again, Yumi had run off. Ulrich stood there rigidly. We heard him give an anguished cry and run off towards the dorms.

"Wow, that worked out rather well…" Sissi commented.

"Sissi, you're a bitch. Tell me where Avery is and then leave before I sock you." I say angrily. Sissi looks mad, Aelita and Jeremie look shocked that I would use such language.

"Fine then. At six this morning, I saw her walking off towards the city." Sissi says and turns away.

"What the hell? What kind of information is that? You broke up Ulrich and Yumi so that I could know that?"

"Yah, and it worked out really well. See you later Odd, I'm going to go and convince Ulrich that Yumi never liked him so he'll go out with me." She says smugly.

**SLAP**

I step back angrily. Sissi lets out an anguished cry like Ulrich's and runs out of the room, her whole side of her face is red from my slap.

"Odd, what has gotten into you? Since when do you ever hurt girls?" Aelita looks shocked.

"Sissi isn't a girl, she's a bitch. She deserved that. But no girl deserves to be hit, so I slapped her." I pull out my phone and send a quick message to Ulrich.

DON'T LISTEN TO SISSI

-O

"I need to go and talk to Yumi."

"Okay go Odd. This mess really is your fault anyway."

"Thanks Jeremie, that really helped." I run quickly out of the cafeteria, forgetting completely about my breakfast. I run quickly towards the woods, hoping Yumi would be in there. I hear crying and stop. I turn around and see Yumi laying against the side of the cafeteria.

_Wow, she didn't run very far…_

"Yumi…" She looks up at me. Her cheeks are covered in tears, and the little makeup she wears is running.

"Go away Odd." She looks down again.

"No Yumi. I need to explain."

"What is there to explain? Besides, you must think I'm stupid, crying this hard."

"No, I understand, you love Ulrich."

"What could you possible understand about love?" She yells at me. I'm taken aback, but I quickly recover.

"My love is what got you into this mess in the first place."

"What do you mean?"

"I think I'm in love with Avery. I was worried about her when she didn't show up for breakfast this morning. Sissi came by, saying she knew where she was. She wouldn't tell unless Ulrich kissed her."

"And of course Ulrich was ready and willing-."

"No he wasn't. I practically begged for him to do it. He finally consented to do it for me, and that's when you came in." I decided not to tell her he kisses Sissi twice. That might make it worse.

"So, Ulrich didn't want to do it?"

"No, he nearly told her to fuck off, but I stopped him. Please don't be mad at Ulrich, this was all my fault."

"I'm so stupid…."

"No, you're extremely smart. You just overreacted and stopped thinking clearly."

"Do you think Ulrich will want to out with me again?"

"Ulrich loves you. More than you can imagine. He will definitely want to go out with you again, I just need to talk to him first."

"Okay. Thanks Odd." I offer her my hand and she takes it, standing up. "Just one last thing…."

"What's that?"

"Who's Avery?" I explain the whole story as we walk back into the cafeteria.

"Hmmm… I don't know. I had a cousin I hung out with all the time, but I just remember calling her Ave. She could be the same person. You said she was from the states?"

"Yah. Well, I think so…."

"Hey Yumi. Are you going to be okay?" Aelita says immediately when Yumi sits down.

"Yah, I think I will be."

"I was thinking, even though Sissi was being extremely harsh, she did give us a little bit of helpful information. She said Avery was going to the city, early in the morning. That rules out that she was just sleeping in her room."

"So? It still doesn't help very much."

"Well, when she comes back, we'll ask her where she went."

"That is if Sissi was telling the truth. She could have been lying."

"I don't think so. She wasn't lying, I can tell." Aelita says.

"How do you know?"

"I just know."

_Maybe it's a girl thing…_

(Avery P.O.V.)

After waking up this morning, I decided to check out the supercomputer that I found last night. I head out the school gates with a map I printed from the Internet. I find the river and cross the bridge with my laptop in my backpack. I enter the factory. It smells like old rusty metal and cheap air fresheners. Finding no other way down, I use a rope and swing down to the ground floor. After a minute of searching, I find no computer. I decide the only other place it could be is downstairs, so I enter the freight elevator and push the button. The door closes smoothly.

_That's weird. If this factory is abandoned, it should have been squeaky._

The elevator goes down a floor and then stops. A panel opens underneath the button with a keypad.

_I need a combo…_

I take out my laptop and quickly hook it up. I press the password finder button that I created. It tries all four digit number combinations to find the password. After a couple minutes, it comes up with it. 8614. I put it in and the door opens to a large room. The room has some kind of holographic projection in it. I look at it and there seems to be four different rings, one is rock, one is sand, one is grass and the last one is ice.

_Weird._

I look around and see a keyboard with three monitors. I sit in the chair, leaning my backpack against the side. I type in the combination again, it grants me full access. I look around and find myself in the smaller cell.

_This isn't the right one. I still can't destroy the virus; I need to find the other access panel._

I look at the time, it's nearly 9:00.

_Where did the morning go? Oh well, I have all day._

I get back into the elevator and go down another level. The door opens to an empty room. I walk inside and something comes out of the floor. I don't know how to describe it. I take a closer look and see an access port near the bottom. I plug in my computer to it….

* * *

**Muahahahahahahahaha(cough)haha. Mesa lika da cliffies! R&R, see if you can figure out what is going to happen in the next chappy! Anyone who gets it right, will get a cookie! (Or maybe a dedication)**


	5. Discovery of Lyoko

**Sorry about the long wait for an update. This chapter is now dedicated to Dragon C. Chan and Fox Kitsune because they got it right! Everybody else gets a cookie (except for NATE because that was a weird answer. You only get half a cookie) Anyway, if you want to know why it took so long to update this, look at A Dark Secret ch 27, I explained it there and I'm too lazy to explain again. Anyways heres a new chappy!**

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

After breakfast, I figure I need to go and talk to Ulrich. I run back to our dorms and walk inside. He's there of course, sitting on his bed. It looks like he's been crying.

"Ulrich, it's okay." I say soothingly.

"No it's not okay!" He yells at me and turns away.

"I talked to Yumi, I explained what happened."

"You did?"

"Yah, she understood completely. You're lucky guy."

"How am I lucky? I feel like my heart's been ripped out."

"You're lucky to have a girl like Yumi. When I found her, she was crying her eyes out."

"Really?"

"Yah. And all because she thought you cheated on her."

"Oh damn, do you think she'll want me back?"

"She asked the exact same question."

"And?"

"You love each other, of course you'll take each other back."

"Thanks Odd. For once, you cheered me up."

"No prob. Now lets get to class before we're late." We run off to our first periods. The whole school day was normal, our math teacher was crazy as usual, Mrs. Hertz said we were nearly failing, again. Same old, same old. After class, Ulrich and Yumi did the normal 'kiss and make up' stuff.

"Hey guys, I'm going to go and see if I can find where Avery is."

"Go on lover boy, go find your lover girl."

"Shut up Ulrich." I run off towards the dorms. I find Avery's and knock. But of course, there's no answer. I try the doorknob, still locked. Then my phone goes off.

"Hey."

"Odd. Head to the factory. XANA has launched an attack."

"Okay, I'm on my way." I run off towards the boiler room, it's the fastest way to the factory. As I enter the factory, something feels weird. Like something is terribly wrong. I shrug it off and go into the elevator. As I enter the control room, I get the feeling again. I walk out of the elevator and to the computer. Everyone is there.

"What's going on, did you already finish?" I ask.

"No something weird is happening." Ulrich says.

"XANA has activated three towers, but nothing is happening. He hasn't possessed anyone, he hasn't even been able to do anything outside of the factory." Aelita says.

"Any explanations?"

"Yes. Someone has put up a massively large firewall around XANA's section of the supercomputer. XANA can't get past it; it's practically impenetrable." As soon as Jeremie finished, the screen goes blank. The hologram disappears, everything is black.

"Aelita!" I turn around just in time to see Aelita just fall, like her legs just gave out. I reach down and catch her, along with Ulrich. Ulrich presses his fingers to her wrist.

"She has no pulse." He says. I put my ear by her mouth.

"She's not breathing." I say and stand up. "Something happened to XANA." I run off to the elevator with Yumi close behind me. We head down to the next level, where the supercomputer is.

(Avery P.OV.)

I've been sitting here for hours, but I'm not making any progress. A firewall, almost as big as mine is blocking me out completely from the computer here. This is where the virus came from, but I can't find a way to destroy it. I had to spend half my time putting up firewall after firewall on my laptop to keep the virus out. I've set up 37 different ones, but it's managed to get past 26 of them. I stand up to stretch my legs and examine the computer. There's nothing special, just the main power switch for it. I plan to use that as a last resort, this is a really nice computer. I look at the time; it's nearly two o'clock. I sit back down and keep working.

By 2:45, I decide I've had enough. This computer has a nearly impenetrable firewall, and I can't get past it with the limited resources I have. I walk over and pull the main switch. All the lights on the computer go dim, and then out completely. As I do, I get a horrible feeling, like I just killed someone. I shrug it off and unplug my laptop from the supercomputer and put it back in my backpack. As I stand up, the elevator door opens, and out walks Odd and a girl, she looks familiar….

(Odd P.O.V.)

As the elevator descends, I prepare myself for the worst. As soon as the door opens I run out to find Avery standing there dumbstruck.

"Avery?" I just stand there.

"Odd? What are you doing here?" Her question brings me back to reality. I run over and switch the supercomputer back on.

"Odd what are you doing?" She asks. She moves over and reaches for the switch.

"No Avery you can't switch XANA off!" She grabs the switch and turns it off again. I literally rip her hand off of it and switch it back on again.

"Odd, this computer is generating a huge virus! It has to be turned off." She moves to turn it off again, but I take her by the shoulders and push her away. I get goosebumps when I touch her… but I can't think about that right now.

"Odd! Let me go!" She struggles, but I hold her firmly.

"If you turn it off, you will kill Aelita." She stops squirming.

"What? How could I kill Aelita? She has nothing to do with this."

"She has everything to do with this." I notice Yumi has been standing there, saying nothing this entire time. "Yumi? Want to give me a hand here?"

"Ave? Ave is that you?" She says incredulously, taking a step forward.

"Yumi? YUMI!" They hug, and I just stand there dumbfounded.

"You two know each other?" Ulrich asks. Everyone else just walked out of the elevator.

"Apparently. I guess they really were cousins. Or well, something like that." I say.

"Guys, this is Ave. She and I used to be really good friends, before I moved to France." Yumi says.

"Yah, we've already met her." Ulrich says.

"Yup. Except we knew her as Avery." I say.

"Oh so this is Avery- **Oh**! This is **the** Avery! Okay…." Yumi realizes what happened. I give her a pleading stare that says please-don't-tell-her. Yumi just nods.

"Unless I get a really good reason within the next two seconds, I'm turning the supercomputer off. It's dangerous." Avery says, pulling away from Yumi. I walk towards her slowly and she backs into the computer.

"I already told you, it would kill Aelita." I say.

"And how could that possibly happen?"

"It looks like we have a lot of explaining to do." I say.

"And you'd better start." She says looking at me.

"Well, I don't know all the technical mumbo-jumbo, but the basic thing is that this computer holds a deadly virus named XANA."

"I know that."

"Ooookay. And this virus is threatening the world."

"Yah, most viruses do that."

"No, I mean this virus wants to rule the world."

"Right. Odd, have you possibly forgotten to take some medication this morning?"

"I'm not kidding, I'm not insane. Just hear me out."

"I'm listening."

"This computer runs a virtual reality known to us as Lyoko. XANA activates towers and uses them to attack and usually cause serious destruction in our world."

"Okay…."

"The only way to stop him is for us to go to Lyoko. Once there, we deactivate the tower, something only Aelita can do."

"Wait, go inside this virtual world? Like actually inside?"

"Yup. When we get there. We battle monsters sent by XANA to destroy us. We have to get Aelita to the tower so she can deactivate it. When she does, the tower shuts down and XANA goes to sleep for a while. Then it starts again when he wakes up."

"So why not just shut down the computer?"

"Because Aelita isn't really human."

"What? But she's standing right there." She points to Aelita.

"When we discovered Lyoko, Aelita was it's only resident. She was alone until we found her. When we are killed by the monsters, we just return here. But if Aelita were to be destroyed, she would be gone forever."

"Yah okay."

"So, the only way to stop XANA's attacks would be to shut him off, which we can't because it would kill Aelita."

"Oh, okay. But she's here now, why not turn him off?"

"Jeremie worked for a long time to try and materialize her. And he finally got it. But just before he did, XANA implanted a virus connecting him to her. So if we destroy XANA, we destroy Aelita. The only way to shut him off now is for Jeremie to make an anti-virus and free Aelita from XANA's evil grip."

"What happens to Aelita when XANA is turned off?"

"She basically just falls down, she stops breathing, her heart stops beating."

"So that means when I turned it off, I… Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Aelita!" She says and runs over to give Aelita a hug. Aelita receives it with open arms.

"It's okay. I know you were just trying to do what you thought was best."

"But I almost killed you!"

"But you didn't. I'm fine now, don't worry yourself over me."

"Okay… Odd, what were you talking about when you looked into my eyes? You said it's okay, no XANA."

"XANA has a nasty little habit of possessing people. The only way to tell is really if they're acting weird, or if they have XANA's symbol in their eyes."

"Oh, that explains it. So I guess the secret Sissi was talking about really did have to do with XANA."

"Yup."

"What? Odd you told Sissi?" Yumi looks at me worried.

"No, she was just prying into our conversation. I just told her to go away pretty much."

"Avery, we just told you our biggest secret. We've been keeping it that for years. I think you owe us an explanation of how you found this." Jeremie says.

"Okay, I guess that's fair. I have a laptop, and I take very good care of it. I discovered at an early age that I have a certain knack for computers. I created my very own virus at age eight. It accidentally destroyed my dad's computer. After that, I decided that instead of creating viruses, I would destroy them. When I got this laptop, I put eleven personal firewalls on it. Nothing has been able to penetrate them so far. A virus tried, it got past one. I found out and followed it back to it's source. I destroyed it within the hour."

"Wow. You must be really good." Jeremie says.

"I try. That particular virus had been dealing the U.S. government some serious trouble. When they found out it was gone, they tried to find out who could possibly do that. They tried to hack my computer and got past two firewalls. When I found out, I crippled their database and left a warning:

Stay Out of my Computer!

Ever since then, I've sought out and destroyed any virus that crosses my path. I've probably destroyed over three hundred by now."

"That's amazing." Ulrich says. "I don't know the first thing about computers, but I know that you must be like a super-hacker."

"Yah. I sorta considered myself a superhero, saving the world from evil viruses. I once hacked into a computer, and read an e-mail. My name is going around the underworld, telling everyone to stay away from me."

"They know who you are? That's dangerous!" I say immediately.

"No, I keep my real identity secret. Everyone knows me as Hacker Lucadious."

"You're Hacker Lucadious? THE Hacker Lucadious?" Jeremie says, his eyes practically bugging out.

"That's me. I see my reputation has spread to countries across the world."

"You're the most infamous hacker I know! Everyone else thinks your at least thirty and a supergenius!"

"Yup. I stumped them all, didn't I?"

"There's a firewall keeping XANA in place right now… did you put it there?"

"Yah, but I don't think it will last very long, not against XANA."

"How many firewalls did he get past?"

"At first, eight. I set up another backup, just in case. When I plugged into him just now, I had to set up a total of 37, and he got past 26. How is this virus so strong? I've never seen anything like it."

"XANA is artificial intelligence. He learns and he adapts. Just like humans."

"So we're going to have to shut him down soon, aren't we?"

"Is anyone up for a trip to Lyoko? I think Avery has earned one." I say.

"Sure. Anyone have any objections? No? Okay good." Jeremie says. We all walk back into the elevator. We drop Jeremie off first, of course, and head down.

"How do you go to Lyoko? Virtual reality helmet or what?" Avery asks.

"Nope, too low tech. We have scanners. They insert us actually into Lyoko." I say. The elevator doors open.

"Let's have Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita go first." Jeremie says over the speaker.

"Ooh, intercom. Nice touch." She says. The aforementioned step into the scanners, and Jeremie does the normal process.

"How do the scanners work?" Avery asks when they don't step out.

"I have no fucking idea."

"Odd!" Avery looks at me astonished.

"What?"

"Please don't cuss around me. I don't like it."

"Oh, okay. I'll try to remember that." I step into my scanner. Just before the doors close I hear Avery say something. Quietly, but still loud enough for me to hear, she says:

"Try not. Do." The doors close.

* * *

**"Odd, have you possibly forgotten to take some medication this morning?" Thats hilarious! I just love that!  
Okay, I have another thing for you to guess at. Anyone who can guesses correctly at what Avery will look like on Lyoko will get a dedication. Anyone who comes close will get an honorable mention. Anyone who guesses at all gets mini marshmellows. Happy guessing!**


	6. Inner Power

**Okay, I know that you're all going to think i'm a liar. But i'm not. Trust me. I had this chappy already written out before anyone reviewed, I did not steal LadyKyra13's idea. Anyways, here's what's going on.**

**This chapter is dedicated to _LadyKyra13_, because se correctly guessed what Avery would look like.**

**Honorable Mention to _Fox Kitsune_, because she guessed part of it.**

**_Lil Jean_ gets mini marshmellows because she guessed. **

**Come on people, don't be afraid to guess! I had only 3 people guess. 3 people! That's pathetic, it borders on insulting! No one is going to think any worse of you for reviewing, unless you flame me. Trust me. Reviewing only helps the writer. (and come on, who doesn't want mini marshmellows!)  
**

**Sorry if it seems like i'm raggin on you people, i'm kinda frustrated with some things. Well, heres the chappy!

* * *

**(Avery P.O.V.)

I step into the golden tube, and wait for something to happen. The doors close, and I feel that feeling come over me again. I hate enclosed spaces. I start hyperventilating uncontrollably. Jeremie starts saying something, but I can't hear him. I feel myself sinking into the fetal position. Light starts blasting me at every angle, and out of nowhere, wind starts blowing hard. I feel myself rise about a foot in the air and I close my eyes. I feel nauseous and then nothing. Blissful nothing. I open my eyes to find myself falling down. I land on my feet but they collapse underneath me.

"Woah there. Are you okay?" Odd rushes over and catches me before I hit the ground. My body is trying to hyperventilate, but nothing is happening. I can't even breathe. I try to calm myself down before speaking, trying to get the logical part of my brain in control again. I glance at Odd, and do a double take. He looks completely different. He's still wearing purple, of course, but he has a strange similarity to a cat. He's wearing a light pinkish shirt with a purple vest overtop. The vest has a symbol of a dog peeing, which is pretty funny. He hasn't got any sleeves, and his vest is connected by yellow suspenders to his pants, which are the same color as his shirt. He's wearing yellow knee pads, but the most striking features are his tail and his gloves. His tail is long like a cat's, with yellow stripes. He has on long gloves that go up past his elbows, but the hands are like cat paws. Amazing, but I try not to show my shock.

"Yah. I'll be okay." I try standing up, but I still feel really weak.

"Avery are you okay? The scanner detected something wrong with your body during transfer." Jeremie's voice says.

"Jeremie? Are you here too?" I ask looking around.

"No, he stays in the control room. He pretty much just tells us when monsters are coming." Yumi says. I've got to admit, my cousin looks pretty good as a geisha!

"That's cool. And yah, I'm fine." I force myself to stand up to reassure everyone.

"What happened?" Ulrich asks. I look at him, he's changed too. He's basically your average, normal, teenage, yellow samurai.

"I have claustrophobia. I hate being in an enclosed space. I started involuntarily hyperventilating while I was in there. I'll be okay, seriously."

"So guys… how does she look?" Jeremie asks. I look down at myself and give a gasp of surprise. I've changed just as much as they have!

"I didn't have time to create an account, so the computer picked random weapons and clothes. Don't keep me in the dark guys, how does she look?" Jeremie says impatiently from nowhere.

I look like Odd. Except not quite. Same basic principal outfit, but differences are easy to spot. I am wearing a darker shade of purple, and everything is slimmed down to make it extremely form-fitting. I'm not wearing a pink shirt underneath the vest so you can see my stomach, and the pants hug my waist firmly. I have cat-like shoes and paws, except the paws are not as noticeable as Odd's. They're smaller, and the gloves go all the way up to my shoulders. I look behind me and see I have a tail that's even longer than Odd's. I reach up and feel my ears, they are long and pointed. Even longer than Aelita's.

"I can only think of one way to describe it Jeremie." Odd says looking at me.

"What's that?"

"Holy shi-," He starts to say than looks at me, "I mean holy crap." I give him a slight nod of approval while everyone else looks stumped.

"Odd? Did you just refrain from cussing?" Yumi asks.

"Yah, so?"

"Why? You always cuss, it's like a part of you." Odd looks somewhat ashamed as he looks at me. I'm sure if he could, he would be blushing.

"I'll tell you later…" He says quietly.

"Guys, we still need to figure out her weapons and special power." Jeremie says.

"I have a special power?" I ask. Ulrich disappears in a burst of yellow light, and suddenly there's one in front of me, and one on each side. The ones on the sides are resting on my shoulders.

"Yup." They all say at the same time. The ones on the side of me all of the sudden fly up into the air about ten feet and stay there.

"You have super speed, the ability to clone yourself, and the ability to fly too? That's not fair!"

"Yumi! Put me down!" The ones in the air say. I look over and see Yumi has a pinkish aura around her, she looks like she is concentrating very hard. She stops and the two Ulrichs drop out of the sky. At his word, they fuse back together to become one. I look over at Odd, who looks like he's in a trance.

"Odd? Are you okay? Odd? Odd!" He doesn't respond.

"Leave him alone Avery, he's having a vision."

"He has visions?"

"Yah. He has visions of the future."

"Do they always come true?"

"Yup, always." Odd seems to snap out of it.

"Woah. That was interesting." He says. "We're having beef tacos for dinner tonight. And they're actually going to be edible!" He says, but something tells me he's not telling the truth….

"Alright! I can finally be full for once!" Ulrich says jumping into the air.

"Hey what's that?" I ask pointing at a strange block that walked up. A ball of purple energy just shot out of my finger, hitting the block and it explodes. I step back surprised.

"Woah! I think I just found my weapon!" I say. My finger still feels normal, even though I just annihilated a block by pointing at it.

"Sorry guys, I wasn't paying attention. Unfortunately it was a scout. That means XANA knows we're here and he's going to send more monsters." As if on cue, I see a large mechanical crab appear out of the sky. It drops down in front of Ulrich and he steps back surprised. The crab takes advantage and opens fire. Ulrich is hit twice, but he recovers and uses his samurai sword to deflect shots. A spinning circular object comes out of the sky and pierces the crab from the top. It flies back to Yumi and she catches it. She folds it back into it's original shape, which looks like a Japanese fan.

"Ulrich, you have 25 life points left." Jeremie says. Odd pulls me aside looking worried while Yumi goes to Ulrich.

"Avery, my vision wasn't about dinner. It was about you and me. A monster called a megatank will fire at me and I'll get thrown into the digital void. The digital void is anything that is not the land, it's the empty space around it. When something falls into the digital void, it's gone forever, it can't be brought back."

"No. I won't let it happen." I say firmly. Odd just looks at me hopelessly.

"Everything in my visions always come to pass. It will happen. I just wanted to say before I die that I enjoyed meeting you, and that I think I love you." He says. I just stand there dumbfounded.

"Odd… no…." I start to say, but Odd cuts me off by pressing his lips to mine. I hear Yumi and Ulrich cheering in the background, but I don't think Odd cares. I don't pull away from the kiss, but I don't return it either. Odd steps away, give me a smile, and does a backflip. He turns around and shoots a block that had just appeared.

_Is this what love feels like?_

Yumi and Ulrich quickly join the fight, decimating any monsters that appear. I still just stand there, I can't seem to make my legs move. I see Aelita hiding behind a small rock. (A/N: I think I forgot to mention that this is in the desert region.) A large shiny black ball appears behind her, and she doesn't notice. XANA's symbol appears on the shell, and I realize that it's a monster!

"Aelita! Look out behind you!" The ball shifts it's focus from Aelita to me. I gain a little control over my legs and start backing up. It opens up, I see XANA's symbol right in the center. I feel it's about to fire, so I jump to the right. The beam just barely misses my feet, I have amazing agility all of the sudden. I think it comes with being a cat. The ball readjusts and rolls towards me. I get to my feet and keep backing up. I look behind me and see I have just reached the edge, what's behind me must be the digital void. Suddenly, I'm scared. More scared then I have ever been before.

"Odd! Help me!" I yell before I can stop myself. I know what's happening, this is Odd's vision. This is the megatank that will send Odd to his death. Odd sees and runs over full speed. The megatank opens up and charges it's laser. I'm desperate. I know if I move, it will save Odd and myself, but my legs won't budge. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to make them move. The megatank fires, the beam flies towards me at an amazing rate. I feel like a deer caught in the headlights, unable to move. Odd leaps and pushes me away, forcing the beam to hit him. He gets knocked over the edge and he falls.

"ODD! NOO!" I yell with all my might. Unknown to me, Ulrich and Yumi stop and look just in time to see Odd fall. While distracted, they are hit and de-virtualized. I fall to the ground, if I could, I would be sobbing. I reach my hand out, as if I'm trying to pull him back.

"Odd!" I yell one last time and close my eyes. I can't bear to see him deleted.

_He's gone, he's gone._

"Avery?" I open my eyes and see Odd lying next to me.

"Odd!" I yell again, but this time in joy. I hug him with all my might. "Odd is it really you?"

"It's me, but how? How did I get back? I was supposed to die…."

"I don't care how it happened, you're alive!" I hug him again. Then, he disappears, I see his wireframe skeleton disassemble and finally vanish. Behind him stands the megatank. I feel anger, anger like I had never felt before.

_He's gone again, I let him go again!_

I scream out in anguish, feeling all my anger flow through me. I large white blast radiates from me, destroying the megatank and every other monster within sight. I look down and see a crater where I'm standing. I look up in time to see Aelita running towards me, and I fall down. Everything goes black.

* * *

I wake up and look around. The first thing I notice is that Odd asleep on my bed laying against the wall. The second thing I notice is that he's holding me tight in his arms bridal style. The third thing I notice is that I'm back in my dorm room. The last thing I notice is that its nearly 1:00 AM. I don't want to wake him up, so I don't move. Unfortunately, I woke him up anyway. 

"Hey. How's it going?" He says groggily.

"Odd, what are you doing here? It's almost one in the morning and your sleeping in my room!" I say, trying to be quiet.

"I-I just wanted to make sure you were all right." He says looking ashamed. I can't stand to look at his ashamed face.

"Thank you." I say. He leans down and kisses me gently. I pull away quickly this time.

"No Odd. Please, no."

"What's wrong? Are you afraid of boys?" He says laughing quietly. I don't laugh.

"No… I just…." Odd notices my serious manner and stops.

"What's the matter? You can tell me anything."

"No Odd, I can't. Please, just go. Just go…." I stand up, just to get away from Odd.

"Please Avery, tell me what's wrong. Please, I just want to help."

"Please Odd, just go." I point towards the door. Odd stands up and walks towards me. I stiffen, but he just gives me a tight embrace.

"I'll leave. But I just want you to know that I will be here if you need me." He steps back and gives me that smile again. Then he leaves. I fall back onto my bed and cry myself to sleep.

(Odd P.O.V.)

I close her door carefully and walk back to my room. As I do, I finger that little key in my pocket. Avery never asked how I got into her locked room…. I walk back to my dorm and go inside. Ulrich has been asleep for probably hours. I silently undress and lay down in bed. As I drift off to sleep, I can't help but see Avery's pained face as she tells me to leave.

_Why won't she tell me what's wrong?

* * *

_

**Muahaha, little cliffy! Basically all of the next like, ten chapters are going to be from Odd's P.O.V. because if you could see what was going on inside Avery's head, it would spoil the fun! I promise some very interesting developments, but it's probably have to turn the rating up. At least to a 'T'. Sorry, that's how the cookie crumbles into the milk. I like cookies in milk... :P**

**I want you all to review. Reviewing is what makes the whole thing worthwhile! See if you can guess what's going to happen in the next chappy, I already have it totally planned out!**_  
_


	7. Gym Surprises

**I want to get to this chappy quickly, so I'm not going to talk much. Thanks to all those who reviewed. This one is dedicated to the real Avery, whom I based my charater off. Thanks to you!**

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

I woke up early again. Which is weird, I have never woken up before Ulrich twice in a row before. I think nothing of it and go take my shower. When I come back, Ulrich is still sleeping, so gently wake him up.

"Ulrich, it's time to get up." I say, pushing him gently. He stirs and opens his eyes.

"Odd?"

"Come on, you're going to be late." I sit back on my bed and put my socks on, followed by my shoes.

"Odd, what's wrong?" I look at him weirdly.

"Nothings wrong."

"Yah, but you woke me up, which is weird, and you didn't pull a prank on me to wake me up."

"I'm just not in a joking mood right now." Ulrich sits up straight.

"Okay, something is definitely wrong. You are **always** in a joking mood. Come on, tell me. Was it your near death experience that no one can explain how you survived?"

"No. Well, sort of."

"Come on, explain."

"Yesterday, my vision wasn't what I said it was."

"I know, we had meatloaf-tuna-stringed-bean-surprise."

"Well, it was about Avery and me."

"Go on."

"I saw what happened yesterday. I saw myself dive and get hit while in the air by a megatank and fly off the edge. I told Avery, I think she ought to know."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because I knew you would overreact and keep me away from Avery. So I figured I wasn't going to see her again. I told her I thought I loved her and I kissed her."

"Yah, we all saw that."

"When I was hit over the edge, I was falling. Then all of the sudden Avery thrust her hand out towards me and yelled my name. I didn't stop. No, I completely reversed direction and shot back up. I landed back on the ground next to her and she hugged me. Then the megatank shot me from behind."

"Yah okay."

"You know the rest, I found her unconscious in the scanner, I carried her back to her room."

"How did you get in her room if it was locked?"

"She had a key in her pocket. I carried her over to her bed and sat down. Not wanting to leave her, I just sat there. Eventually I fell asleep. I woke up when she did. I tried to kiss her again, but she pulled away. She told me to leave and I did."

"Ah, I see. Looks like you've got the classic heartbroken syndrome."

"So what do I do?" Ulrich sighs.

"I don't know Odd. I felt that way until I asked Yumi out. Once I did, it was fine. You've already expressed your love to her and she rejected you. Right now, I'm totally clueless." I give a sigh.

"Oh well. I'll make due." I walk outside and head for the cafeteria. On second thought, I head downstairs and walk up to Avery's room. I bring up my hand to knock, but I hesitate. I can't bring myself to knock on the door. I must have been standing there for a couple minutes, fist raised, just looking at her door. I can't even begin to describe the battle that was going on inside me.

_I have to knock. I need to apologize. _

_No you fool! Pretend you don't care, she'll come running to you. She's just playing hard to get!_

_No, that wasn't hard to get, she was in real agony over this. I need to apologize and ask to be friends again._

After about five minutes of this, I lower my fist. I walk off with my head down. I wasn't going to play hard-to-get for her, I was just sad. I decided to obey her wishes and just leave her alone.

(Ulrich P.O.V.)

It's a good thing I had my shower last night before I went to bed. I get dressed and walk downstairs. I turn the corner and see Odd there, he's not moving. He's just standing there, fist raised as though he's about to knock. After a minute, he lowers his fist and walks off with his head down.

_I have never seen Odd like this…._

I as soon as Odd is gone, I walk over to the door he was standing by. It's a small one bed dorm.

_This must be Avery's dorm._

I knock and step back.

"Go away Odd." I hear someone say quietly from inside. I listen closely and it sounds like someone crying.

_Well, this is Avery's dorm. Good thing Odd didn't knock, he would have been crushed to hear her say that._

"Avery, it's Ulrich. Please, open up. I need to talk to you." I hear her stop crying, but she starts sniffling. The door opens slightly, but not enough to see her face.

"Hi Ulrich. What do you want?"

"Avery, you need to talk to Odd." She opens the door all the way. She has obviously been crying, her eyes are red and puffy. She frowns as soon as I say the word Odd.

"I have nothing to say to him." She says and starts to close the door.

"Please Avery, just let me say something." She stops and looks me deep in the eyes. She resigns.

"Okay. What do you want?"

"Why did you do that to Odd?" She looks angry, but it dissipates and is replaced by sorrow. She still says nothing.

"Avery, Odd has had a lot of girlfriends." I say and she looks angry again.

"Oh, thanks a lot Ulrich, that really helped!" She starts to slam the door shut, but I block it with my foot.

"But he has never acted like this for any other girl." She stares at me with an expression I can't read.

"I just turned the corner and I found Odd standing here. He looked like he was in a furious battle with himself. After a minute, he walked off with his head down. He has never, I mean never, acted like this before."

"Why do you think that is…?"

"He told you he loves you."

"That's not love."

"What is it then?"

"It's just a crush. He'll get over it. Either that or it's lust."

"Odd has had crushes before. He's told me of them. He still has never acted like this. And trust me, Odd is not after sex."

"How do you know?"

"Just trust me. No one knows Odd better than I do. I think Odd really loves you. Can you at least tell me why you won't give him a chance?" Avery looks at me with her deep green eyes.

"I-I can't. I just can't." I can tell this is tearing her up inside. "I'm sorry Ulrich."

I give a sigh. "Okay, I get the picture. You don't want to talk about it. Come on, let's go to breakfast."

"No thanks, I'm not hungry."

"Come on, you've got to get something to eat, you haven't had anything for more than a day now."

"No, I'm not hungry." She says firmly. I decide this is a battle I'm not going to win.

"Well, I can see why Odd likes you. You're as stubborn as he is. I'll see you later okay?"

"Okay. Bye Ulrich…." She closes the door and I walk away, towards the cafeteria. I grab my breakfast, which happens to be leftovers from last night, and walk over to our table. Jeremie and Aelita are talking quietly about some computer stuff I don't understand. Odd is sitting there, picking at his food with a fork. Yumi hasn't shown up, she usually doesn't for another half hour.

"Odd, are you going to be okay?" He looks up at me, he looks hopelessly miserable.

"I'll be fine." He says, but he doesn't look like it.

"After you left, I talked to Avery." Odd immediately perks up.

"What did she say?"

"Let's just say it's a good thing you didn't talk to her. I think it's the worst possible thing right now."

"That bad huh?" Jeremie says, looking at me.

"Yah. Did Odd fill you in?"

"No, but we got the picture. What do you think he should do?" I think for a couple minutes. When I do talk, I direct my answer more towards Odd than Jeremie.

"Right now, nothing. I think she's in emotional pain, it would be best for her to stay by herself. At least until she's ready."

"What about when you-know-who attacks?" My pink-haired friend asks.

"When Odd does see her, he should act like nothing has happened between them. Avery needs to be the one to bring it up."

"Wow Ulrich, you seem to be the expert on this." Jeremie remarks.

"Yah I know. I'm surprising myself on how logical these answers are."

"Well, since you're the expert, maybe you would like to tutor me?" Says an all-too-familiar voice in my ear. I turn around to find Sissi looking at me expectantly. "How about in my room later? I also have the latest Sub-Sonics CD that we could listen to."

I give a contented sigh.

"Oh Sissi, you know I would love to."

"Really?"

"Yah. Unfortunately I don't think the best tutor in the world could help you, your room is off limits to guys, and I already have that CD. So it's basically pointless. Sorry, better luck trying to con me into going out with you next time. So until then, go away." I turn back to Jeremie. "I think I'm off my game. That was a lot less harsh then I meant for it to be." He and I laugh, but Odd just stares at his food. Unfortunately Sissi seems to take notice.

"What's wrong with Della-Robbia? Is he sick from all that crap he eats?" She laughs at her own lame joke. I see Odd's signature grin come across his face.

"No Sissi, just the thought of talking to you makes me sick!" We all laugh at that, even Nicolas and Herb. But they are shut up quickly when Sissi gives them a glare. Sissi stomps off again, followed by her cronies.

"Well, it seems we got Odd back, at least for a little bit." I say seeing Odd's mood change.

"I'm never to sad to make fun of Sissi. But unfortunately, I don't think this will last long…" He gives a sigh and starts eating.

"Wow, that really was short. Odd, we have to do something. You can't mope like this forever. It sucks, trust me, I know. I was the King of Mopeland, I ruled over all that was sulking." I say.

"You got that right. I just don't know what to do."

"I think you should do what Ulrich says. Pretend nothing happens, when she's ready to talk, she will. Until then, avoid her. Let Ulrich try to talk to her, she seems more comfortable around him." Jeremie suggests.

"I don't know if I can do that guys."

"You can do it Odd. Just trust me, it'll all be okay."

"I hope so. I really do."

"Come on lover boy, let's go to class." We stand up and head for out separate classes. Everyone of our teachers mentions how quiet Odd is and how it's an improvement.

* * *

During fitness, Jim decides it would be fun to make us run the mile. Again. Third time this month. Odd really doesn't look up to it, so I decide to experiment. 

"Okay Odd, you can get through this."

"No I can't. But PE and Art are the only classes I'm not failing, and I really don't want to screw up my grade in this class too…"

"So don't. Just try to imagine this: Avery is waiting at the end of the mile with a kiss for whoever wins." Odd gives me a smile and a determined look. I decide to make this interesting. I've been holding back on all the mile runs so far because that makes it easier to beat your old time. This time, I'm going to race Odd and see how fast he can really go. Odd isn't much of a long distance runner, but he's a really good sprinter. As soon as Jim shoots the starting pistol, we take off. I'm in front, Odd just behind me. After two laps, I'm beginning to tire, but Odd doesn't seem to show any signs of fatigue. I readjust my pace to match Odd's. At the start of the third lap, Odd seems to be wearing out. He slows down and I do too. I'm beginning to run out of energy. I've basically used up all my main energy, and am running on about 50 percent of my backup. At the start of the fourth lap, Odd has fallen behind. I turn back and see him lagging, I have only one last little trick left.

"Hey Odd, looks like I'm gonna get the kiss!" I say and turn around. I run again, a little faster. With about half a lap to go, I turn around to look at Odd, but he's not there. I look forward again, he had passed me on the other side.

_Holy Shit!_

I quickly speed up but it's no match. I'm just out of energy. Odd actually beat me. I cross the finish line about ten seconds after he does.

"Wow Della-Robbia, that's amazing! You just broke Ulrich's old record with 5 minutes and 42 seconds! Stern, you got 5 minutes 54 seconds. Not bad, but it could use work." Jim says as Odd and I collapse on the sidelines. (A/N: One of my best friends actually broke the school record and got 5 minutes and 29 seconds on the mile. She's really amazing. She and I joke about how if a giant gorilla attacked the school, she would be the only one who outran it.)

"Well Odd, (pant) it looks like (pant) you just found (pant) your motivation." I say while trying to recover.

"Yup, I think I did. Now, where's my kiss?" He says laughing.

"You're not getting one from me!"

"Man, that's just disgusting. What do you want to do now? We still have about five minutes until the stragglers finish." I go pale as I see Avery walking over. "Hey, what's up? Earth to Ulrich…. Hello? Did aliens just abduct your brain or what?" He says, waving a hand in front of my face. I grab his hand and look him straight in the eye.

"Avery is walking over. Whatever you do, play it cool, and don't mention you-know-what." Odd looks stunned but he nods. He turns around and waves to Avery.

"Hi guys." She says walking over. Odd gulps and replies:

"Hi Avery, what's up?"

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.)

"Hi guys." She says as she walks over to us. She's still as beautiful as ever, but something seems different. I feel a knot in my throat as I try to reply. I gulp quickly and try to sound casual.

"Hi Avery, what's up?" I look at her expectantly. She looks at me for a second before replying.

"Oh not much. I was just bored, I don't have classes until Monday. So I decided to see if I could find you guys. Lucky you were at PE isn't it?" She says without the slightest hint of anything being wrong.

"Yah pretty lucky." I don't think Ulrich wants to talk, he probably wants me to talk more. I look at Avery and notice what is different about her. She's wearing some black eyeliner, she never wore makeup before. She and Ulrich start talking about something else, but I'm not listening. I can't pay attention. I just stare at those deep piercing green eyes. As I look closer, I see that the black eyeliner is covering up rather well the fact that her eyes are red and puffy, as if she has been crying.

"Odd, why are you staring at me?" Avery noticed that I was looking at her, I turn away blushing.

"Uh, no reason." I say to my shoes.

"Okay… Odd, you are starting to really be… well, odd." She says and starts laughing

"Well, I do try to live up to my name." I say joining in.

"Hey you! What are you doing here?" Jim asks walking over.

"She's a student here." I say immediately defending her.

"She's not in this class."

"Yah, she doesn't start classes until Monday."

"Then what is she doing here? Is this part of your conspiracy? Huh?"

"There is no conspiracy Jim. Never has been, never will be." Ulrich says with a sigh.

"Well then what is she doing here?"

"I just wanted to come and see the track… and I saw these two. I didn't mean to disrupt your class…." She says rather timidly.

_Wow, she is really shy around other people, but when she's with us she's like a whole different person!_

"Why did you want to come see the track? Come to pull a prank maybe?" Jim says accusingly.

"No, I used to run track for my old school. I just wanted to look…."

"You run track? I'm the coach, maybe you would be a good addition to the team, eh? Could you show me how fast you run?"

"Uh, no not really. I'm not wearing running clothes." Actually, she was wearing a denim jacket with some well worn jeans. Not very good for running in.

"You shouldn't complain. When I was a professional boxer, I had to train no matter what clothes I wore."

"You were a boxer?" Ulrich asks.

"I'd rather not talk about it. Well, I'm going to have to report you to the principal. You shouldn't be wandering around campus during school hours."

"Oh come on Jim! She's new here!" I say loudly.

"Yah Jim. Besides, this is a first time offense." Ulrich pips in.

"Okay fine. I'll let you off with a warning. Don't do it again." Jim walks off to meet the stragglers. He calls for everyone to go inside. Ulrich gets up and walks off towards the gym. I start to follow.

"Hold on Odd. Wait for just a second. I want to check something." I get butterflies in my stomach at the thought. Ulrich seems to notice I'm not following him and he turns around, looking at me weirdly. I just give him a wave. I think he gets the drift and hurries off. As soon as everyone has left, I turn back to Avery.

"So? What did you want to talk to me about?" She looks me in the eye.

"You said you loved me. Did you mean it?" She asks me in all seriousness.

"Yes." I reply instantly.

"Then I want to check something. Will you let me?"

"Of- of course." She leans in and kisses me gently on the lips….

* * *

**I am not going to say anything because I know I'll give something away. I just ask you to review and tell me what you think. And now I leave you with a quote from my list: ****(Everyone seems to like them)  
**

**242. My parents taught me to walk and talk; but now they just want me to sit down and shut up.**


	8. The Cold Turth

(Odd P.O.V.)

She leans in and kisses me gently on the lips….

I'm too shocked to move, I can't even get myself to return the kiss.

_Why is she kissing me? I thought she didn't love me…._

After a second, she stops and pulls back. She has an expression on her face that I can't read.

"A-Avery?" I stutter. She looks at me for a second longer, then just turns around and runs off back towards the dorms. I just stand there in shock. I'm finally brought back to reality by Jim coming back out and yelling at me.

"Della-Robbia! Get in here! We're playing dodgeball, losing team does 100 pushups!" He yells. I run over to the door and walk inside slowly. Jim puts me on the opposite team as Ulrich. He knows if we're together that team would win easily. I play, but my heart isn't in it. I think Avery stole it with the kiss she gave me and ran off with it. Ulrich notices and goes easy on me. Normally this would be an all out slug-fest between Ulrich and me, but this time my mind is elsewhere. After getting out the fourth time (if a teammate catches a ball then you're back in), everyone seemed to be saying 'what's wrong with Odd?' Without my help, Ulrich dominates. My team is decimated and we lose. I don't even remember doing the hundred pushups or going to the locker rooms to change. It was all a blur, but not bliss. No definitely not bliss. I was in turmoil the entire time, trying to figure out the reason why Avery would kiss me and then run away again. I just cannot figure it out.

The rest of the day is a complete blur as well, even lunch and dinner. The first thing I remember clearly is going back to my dorm and playing that song. The one I made that first day when Avery first arrived. I sit, and I play it, over and over again. I try to make up words for it, but I can't come up with any that can fully describe the feeling I have. So I leave it blank. I play the song again and as soon as I finish, I set my guitar down and bury my face in my hands.

"That was a good song. Did you make it?" Ulrich says. I didn't hear him come in.

"Yah. I made it the first day Avery moved in. She… she kind of inspired me."

"It's cool. It sounds like-."

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams, I know."

"You said that Avery inspired you?"

"Yah. I was just thinking about her and playing randomly. It ended up as this."

"What happened between you two after I left?" I flinch. "Come on Odd, it couldn't be that bad…." I feel tears start to come to my eyes. This is the closest I've come to crying in years. I hold them back though, it won't help to cry.

"Avery asked me if I loved her."

"And you said yes… right?"

"Right. She said she wanted to check something and asked if she could."

"And you said yes again…."

"Yah. She kissed me."

"Alright! That's good! Right?"

"No. After a second she pulled away. She looked at me with an expression that looked like relief and sorrow mixed. Then she ran away."

"She ran away?"

"Yah. She ran. Do you have any idea why? I'm totally stumped. I mean I tell the girl I love her, but she tells me to beat it. Afterwards, she kisses me and then runs. Girls confuse me."

"Did you kiss her back?"

"No… not really."

"Well there's your problem. She was probably looking to see if you really loved her, to see if you would kiss back. You didn't so she felt foolish and ran."

"You're probably right. Wow Ulrich, you're like Dr. Phil now. How do you know all this stuff?" I ask looking at him. He just starts laughing.

"I have no fucking idea. It just comes to me." He says and we laugh together. After that we change and go to bed. Wonderful sleep becomes horrible nightmares for me, I'm tortured by the fact that Ulrich's probably right. She wanted to find out if I really loved her and I screwed up. I doubt I can ever go back to my normal life after this. I must have woken up at least twice times in a cold sweat.

* * *

At 3:30, I can't take it anymore. I grab a fresh change of clothes and head for the showers. Because of it being so early, absolutely no one is up. I take a nice warm shower, I feel the water run over my face and hair, it feels so soothing. After a while, I get out and get dressed. It's about 4:00, and I know I'm not going to be able to get back to sleep. I wander aimlessly throughout the halls. I know I wont get caught, Jim is asleep. If the security camera catches me, who cares. I end up downstairs on the floor with the girl's dorms. I look over at Avery's dorm.

_It this one girl who is causing me all this turmoil, this one girl who's been haunting me. Why does this always happen to me?  
_

I slump down against her door. I just sit there thinking. I must have been sitting there for half an hour before I hear it. I put my ear to the door to confirm it. Yes, someone inside is crying. I also hear her saying things, mostly mumbling. I stand up and knock on the door.

"Avery? Are you okay?" I say, just loud enough so that she will hear me, but not loud enough to wake up anyone else. She doesn't answer, but the mumbling gets louder.

"Avery? Avery?" She still doesn't answer. I try the doorknob and the door is unlocked. It swings open and I see Avery thrashing around on her bed.

"No… no… no, help me… help!" She cries out. I rush over to her, she starts jerking her arms around. I grab her by the shoulders and try to wake her.

"Avery! Avery! Wake up Avery!"

"No… Odd no! No please Odd no…" I shake her shoulders roughly.

"Avery! Wake up!" Her eyes flutter open, She stares at me in shock, tears rolling from her eyes.

"Odd!" She sits up and hugs me. I embrace her back, we don't move for a couple of minutes. She seems to have fallen into a peaceful sleep, my shoulder is wet from her tears. Not wanting to wake her, I slowly lean against a wall, and she snuggles against my chest. Good thing it's dark, I must be blushing like mad. I try not to notice that she is only in her underwear. Damn, it doesn't work.

_Out of the three nights she's been here, two of them I end up with her sleeping in my arms. This is getting crazy._

I sit there against the wall, just holding her in my arms. She seems to be fine now, except she's shivering slightly. I slowly reach over and grab a blanket to cover her up. I gently lay it over her, she grabs it and snuggles closer to me.

_At least now I won't be tempted to look at her anymore._

Considering the fact she's laying against my chest, it makes it kind of hard to leave, so I sit there for a couple hours. I can't fall asleep again, I'm not sure I want to. It's about 6:45 when she wakes up again. Her eyes open slowly and she notices I'm there.

"Hi Odd. Wait a minute, Odd? What are you doing here?" She sits up and notices her lack of being fully clothed.

"Don't look at me! Why are you here?" She grabs the blanket and tries to cover herself. I look away.

"Sorry, it was kind of unavoidable." I look down at my shoes while she gets dressed.

"Now, why were you in my room?" She looks at me queerly.

"Uh… kind of a long story."

"Did you do… anything… to me?" She sounds scared. I look her in the eyes.

"No I did not. I couldn't help the fact that you uh… weren't wearing very much."

"You have about thirty seconds to explain or I'm calling the cops for molesting me." She says and puts her hands on her hips.

"Okay. I couldn't sleep, so I went walking. I happened to be walking by when I hear you crying in your room. I knocked and you didn't answer, so I opened the door. You were having a nightmare. When I woke you up, you kind of hugged me and wouldn't let go. I held you until you fell asleep again. You didn't move until just a few minutes ago when you woke up." Avery looks at me, she seems satisfied.

"So… why couldn't you sleep?" She looks at me with a kind expression.

"I- I was having nightmares too."

"What about?" I look at her, unsure of whether or not to respond.

"About… you." I say, looking at my shoes again. She seems startled.

"About me? What about me?" I stand up.

"Look, I'm sorry for coming in here, it wasn't my place to…" I head for the door. I stop when Avery grabs my arm.

"No Odd, I'm sorry. You were just trying to help. Please, just tell me." I turn around.

"I was having nightmares that you didn't love me, that I would never be able to be with you." Avery stares at me wide-eyed.

"Really? You had… nightmares? About me…?" She asks like she can't believe it.

"Yes. Now can I ask you something?"

"I…guess…so…."

"Do you love me? If you don't, say so. I'll take it like a man. But if you do, I'd really like to know. Ever since that kiss… it's been haunting me. Please tell me, I need to know." She looks at me with another expression I can't read. I seriously can't describe it.

"No Odd. I don't." She says after a second. "I'm sorry."

Like I promised, I took it like a man. I put on a smile, and look at her warmly.

"It's okay. Even still, I want to be your friend."

"I do too."

"I'll see you at breakfast, okay?"

"Okay. Goodbye Odd." As I left, I didn't know what to think. I'm sure that if I still had my heart, it would be in about a million pieces right now. Unfortunately for me, Avery had stolen it. I walked back up to my room and sat on my bed. I still had over an hour before school started. Breakfast wouldn't start for a couple of minutes, Ulrich wasn't anywhere to be seen. I wasn't hungry, but I decided to go down to breakfast anyway, as I told Avery I would.

I just hope I can face her like normal after all this.


	9. Training

**Yay, more chapters! This chappy is super-officially dedicated to LadyKyra13. Again. She was my 50th reviewer. It is sub-dedicated (if that's even possible) to Fox Kitsune because she gave a long review which was also kind of creepy. See people, if you give a longer review, I might dedicate it to you!  
**

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

I walk into the cafeteria. Everyone in the line notices that I arrive. They immediately stop talking and start trying to get through the line as fast as possible. They know it's a bad thing to get between a hungry Odd and his food. I think I surprised them all by turning and walking towards the table. I spot everyone sitting at our normal table, including Avery.

"Hey Odd." Ulrich says as I sit down.

"Hi guys. Anything new?" Jeremie leans over to me.

"We might have found a way to get XANA to stop attacking." He whispers to me.

"Really? That's cool. Fill me in on the details later okay?" I say back. I look over at Avery. I mouth _did you tell them?_ She shakes her head. Ulrich sees me looking at her and seems to remember something.

"Hey Odd, where were you this morning? When I woke up, you weren't there."

"I woke up early and went to go take a shower, uh… we must have missed each other."

_Well, it's kind of the truth…_

"Oh… okay." I think he noticed that I didn't want to talk about it.

"Hey Odd, where's your breakfast?" Aelita asks.

"I'm not hungry." I say casually. Unfortunately, everyone immediately catches on.

"Odd, this has got to stop, you've got to start eating again." Jeremie says.

"What? Odd hasn't been eating?" Avery looks stunned. Actually it's true. Ever since Avery came I haven't been eating as much, or skipping meals all together. I just haven't been hungry.

"I don't think I've seen Odd eat a full meal for at least two days." Aelita says.

"Come on Odd, I'm getting you something to eat." Avery says. She grabs me and pulls me over to the line.

"Avery, come on. I'm not hungry."

"I don't care. You're getting something to eat."

"Avery…." She turns around and looks at me. "You know as well as I do that you haven't been getting much to eat either." She doesn't say anything. "Did you get something to eat today?"

"No, not really…."

"I'll get a meal and eat it, even though I'm not hungry. But you have to come and have breakfast with me. Deal?" I offer my hand.

"Deal." She smiles and shakes my hand. I still get goosebumps, but I ignore them. We go through the line, every once and a while Avery makes me get more. We go back and sit down, I start eating like I promised. Avery eats a little bit, but at least she's eating.

_Well, at least I can still talk to her like normal…_.

* * *

The rest of the day, in fact the rest of the week goes uneventful. XANA wasn't attacking, he was still trying to get past Avery's firewall. I have a feeling that when he does get past, he's going to hit us with a big attack. He's gonna be super pissed. Saturday rolls around, I have no idea what Avery has been doing during school. When I ask, she just tells me that she finds stuff to do. She starts school on Monday. 

I'm glad our friendship hasn't suffered because of me. She shows no signs she even remembers the entire ordeal. The problem is, I just can't get past her. I've been waking up every night from nightmares, about what could have been. I can't sleep anymore, and I think it might be starting to show. The entire week, I've been reclusive. I haven't talked much, all my teachers say it's a big improvement. Everyone is concerned about me, but I tell them it's nothing. Only Avery seems to know why, but she doesn't say anything. I haven't told anyone what happened between Avery, but I think Ulrich may have figured it out. All I told him was that Avery and me aren't going out.

On Saturday, we decide to go to Lyoko for some training. Avery has only had one real battle, and that doesn't really count. As we head for the factory, Jeremie tells us about Avery's character.

"The computer picked completely random, I'm surprised it came up almost exactly the same as Odd's. Since you weren't exactly conscious, I saved the data in the computer's memory. For now, that is your character, but we can still change it." He says.

"No. I'm fine with my character."

"Okay good. Now I've been looking at what happened on Lyoko the other day and I think I know your powers. From what Odd has told me, I think you have a 'force pull,' and probably a 'force push.' You killed all those monsters with what I think we'll call a 'force explosion.' So you have the power to push and pull objects or people, and the ability to wipe out all enemies within range. Unfortunately, your force explosion takes up life points and a lot of energy. When you used it last, you had 25 life points left, but you were exhausted and you passed out. When you did, you were devirtualized."

"Okay. What about weapons?" We enter the factory and swing down. We go into the elevator and head down to the control room.

"You'll find out the rest of your weapons when you get there."

The door closes and the rest of us go down to the scanners. Well, everyone except Aelita, she stays with Jeremie.

"Why did Aelita stay with Jeremie?" Avery asks.

"First off, it's Aelita and Jeremie. Of course they want to be together. Second, Aelita doesn't have any weapons, so it's be pretty useless to have her try and train you. Third, well… I can't think of a third reason. But I know there is one." I say. Once the elevator stops, we head out into the scanner room. I suddenly remember what happened to Avery last time.

_"I hate being in an enclosed space. I started involuntarily hyperventilating while I was in there."_

"Avery, are you going to be okay in the scanners? I mean, your claustrophobia…." She looks at me.

"Don't worry Odd, I'll be okay. I know what's going to happen now, I'll be fine."

"In that case, your scanner is waiting madam." I say and bow. She walks past me into the scanner. Ulrich and Yumi occupy the remaining scanners and the whole process begins again. Pretty soon it's my turn and I get in. I get dropped off in the desert sector, where everyone else is waiting for me.

"Okay guys, lets start the training. Avery, you've got the basic laser beams you had before. Pretty simple, just point and shoot. You've also got a small shield, like Odd's." Jeremie says from above. After that we work with Avery on skills. She has a hard time with accuracy, but she is okay with it. I work with her on her agility, and she is awesome. Yumi and Ulrich think she's better than me. She does backflips, cartwheels, side lunges and everything else. She works with Ulrich on dodging blows, and with Yumi on controlling her powers. She hasn't been able to pull off an explosion yet, I think it might be something that is controlled emotionally. She's really good with everything else, she learns fast. After a while, Jeremie decides it's time for the fun to stop.

"Okay guys, that's enough. It's getting close to dinnertime, we need to go back. I'm devirtualizing you now." I feel a familiar sensation come over me and my whole world goes white. I find myself curled up in the scanner, with Avery and Yumi just coming out of the others. I quickly run over and give them both a hand up, which Yumi accepts. Avery just stands up on her own. As soon as we're all out, we head upstairs and meet Jeremie on the bridge.

"Well Avery, I think you're going to become a very promising Lyoko Warrior. I officially give you the Cat-boy seal of approval." I say and bow again. Avery squeals in fake delight as I present her with an imaginary medal.

"I accept it with great honor. Oh just great, there's cat hair all over it!" Avery says and we all laugh. We head back to the school, while Yumi heads back home.

"I don't know Odd, I think Avery might be actually better than you."

"No, not yet. But she very well could be eventually."

"I dunno, it was kind of funny when she was tossing you around with her force pushes. I'm surprised they're so powerful, they must have lifted you up at least thirty feet in the air." Avery laughs again, that musical sound that feels like heaven to my ears….

_No! Don't think about that now!_

"Well, it was funny to you because you were safe on the ground." I retort.

"And that's where I intend to stay." He says as we head into the cafeteria. I'm glad I was able to spend some good time with Avery today.

_She looked so graceful when she was doing all those gymnastics moves… No. I can't think about that anymore. She doesn't love me and that's final!_

As we go through the line, Avery makes sure I get an adequate amount of food. We walk over to our table and sit down.

"Avery, I've got to hand it to you. That firewall you made is keeping XANA at bay, while we take a much needed break."

"That's what I do. I actually took out another virus yesterday. It wasn't very powerful, but it was just bugging me."

"I'd like to see how you do that, it's probably pretty cool." I say.

"Okay, the next time I find one, I'll bring you over and show you how I work."

"I'd like that." I say through a mouthful of food. I accidentally spit some crumbs on the table.

"Well, Odd is back to normal now… when he starts spitting crumbs, he's okay." Ulrich says.

"I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult. So I'll take it as both."

"Good ol' Odd is back." Avery says as she lays her head on my shoulder. I feel myself blush and try to ignore it. I put my arm around her shoulder.

"Yup. And I intend to stay." I take another bite. "Nothing like a good trip to Lyoko to cheer you up."

"Oooh, what's Lyoko? Is it what you guys have been plotting together?" I glance at Ulrich, he's scowling at someone behind me. I already know who it is before I turn around. Sissi is looking at Avery and me in disgust. I stand up and look her straight in the eye. Then I smile.

"Yup. Lyoko is a virtual universe where we go to fight a demonic artificial intelligence that wants to take over the world. It attacks the school and causes massive amounts of damage by possessing objects or people. The whole reason you don't remember is because we go back in time and fix all the damage done by it." I smile again. Sissi just looks at me like I'm insane.

"Della-Robbia, you get weirder every day." Sissi says. She walks away without another word.

"Odd, why did you just tell her the truth?" Avery asks.

"Sissi has been to the factory tons of time, but she doesn't remember it because of the return to the past."

"What? You can return to the past?" She asks, we all stare at her bug-eyed.

"We never told you that?" Ulrich asks.

"No."

"I guess we didn't, did we?" I smile sheepishly and sit down again. "When XANA does damage to the school or us, or basically whenever someone would think something is wrong, we return to the past. It's a program on the supercomputer that I have no idea how it works. When we do, everything returns to the way it was before XANA attacked. No one else remembers because of some other reason I don't know."

"We haven't had a need to return to the past ever since Avery got here, maybe that's why."

"Can we go do one now? I want to know what it feels like."

"Uh, no. Every time we do it, XANA gets stronger."

"Okay, you lost me. How could he possibly get stronger?" Jeremie launches into some complicated explanation about quantum physics and Avery seems to understand. I just stare off into space like I always do when Jeremie starts talking computer talk. Unfortunately, I happened to be staring straight at Avery. I snap back to reality when she waves her hand in front of my face.

"Odd? Hello? Earth to Odd!" I snap out of it and blush a little.

"Oops, sorry." I mumble. Avery looks at me strangely and blushes too, but just slightly. I see Ulrich smirk at me in the corner of my eye but ignore it. I know Ulrich is going to give me hell about how Avery really does love me, but I don't really care. She told me how she felt, I'm going to go by that. I trust her.

* * *

**Okay R&R people! I shall leave you with one quote:**

**298. 4 out of 5 doctors don't recommend Chuck Norris as a solution to most problems. Also, 80 of doctors die brutal, enexplained deaths.**

**I will put another quote on the next chapter for every person who reviews, maybe that will be incentive for you people. I will update soon, I promise!**


	10. Day of Fun

**Heylo again! I have another chapter ready and waiting for you! So i'm gonna skip the boring talk that I always do and go straight to the story! Hurray for me shutting up!**

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

"Clothes shopping? Count me out. I've got better things to do then watch you try on clothes… of course, I wouldn't mind the fact that half the time there, you wouldn't have any clothes on…." I grin really big, and get slapped really hard by Avery. It's Sunday afternoon, and really boring. So the girls decided to pull us guys along for the ride.

"Ow, I was just kidding!" I put my hand up to my face, my cheek is throbbing. I glare at Yumi, Aelita, and Ulrich who are laughing.

"Odd, that wasn't funny…." Avery says, but somehow I can tell she would be laughing if the others weren't around.

"Come on Ulrich, let's go play soccer or something." Ulrich shakes his head.

"Nah, I'm going to go with them. Besides you have a point." Ulrich ducks his head as Yumi tries to smack him upside the head again.

"I was just kidding! Damn, you have no sense of humor, do you?" Yumi just laughs.

"Are you sure you don't want to come Odd?" Aelita asks.

"Nah, I'm fine."

"Oh, come on. I'm sure that we can go to the food court afterwards."

"No thanks, I'm not really hungry." This brought stares. Before I knew it, I was headed for the mall. The girls were talking about something or rather that I really didn't care about, so I just tuned them out like I always used to do whenever Yumi and Ulrich would get mushy. Ulrich was talking to Jeremie (who was dragged along by Aelita) so I just walked, not really thinking about anything.

"Odd!" I hear someone yell my name and feel someone's hand grab mine. I get pulled backwards and feel a rush of wind. I fall backwards onto whoever grabbed me. Totally engrossed in my thoughts, I had nearly walked into the middle of an intersection. I look down to see I had fallen on top of Avery, I'm laying right on top of her. Blushing furiously, I can't take my eyes off hers. She too is blushing furiously, and I only regain a sense of reality when I feel Ulrich's hand on my shoulder. I quickly scramble off of her and get to my feet.

"Um… thanks…." I offer her my hand, which she takes and I help her up. I look at my shoes, trying to stop blushing. After a few moments, Ulrich decides to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Ahem, shall we continue?" We start walking again towards the mall. I hear Avery giggling with Yumi and Aelita, I know they're talking about what just happened. Ulrich turns to me and smiles.

"You know Odd, with your spiky yellow hair and beat red face, you looked just like a fireball!" He and Jeremie crack up laughing. I just scowl at them.

"Lighten up Odd, you used to do it to me all the time!" Ulrich says.

"Yah, well, I always knew Yumi would love you back…." I say quietly, but Ulrich hears anyway.

"You know Odd-."

"Nope, I don't want to hear it. Avery has already told her feelings for me, I trust that she told me the truth. End of story." I look away.

"Odd? Are you okay?" Ulrich puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Yah, I'm fine. I just… I'm fine." Ulrich looks at me, like he's trying to figure out what I'm thinking.

"Is it about… you know?" He asks quietly. The girls don't hear us, but Jeremie does.

"About what?" He asks quietly.

"A couple of days ago, I woke up extremely early. I'm going to skip the boring stuff and let's just say I ended up in Avery's dorm. She was having a nightmare. I woke her up and she uh… hugged me. And she wouldn't let go. So I stayed there for a couple of hours. When she woke up, I asked her if she…. If she really loved me."

"And what did she say?"

"No. She doesn't love me. And I think I knew it too. All those times we shared some intimate moments was just coincidence. If either of you had been there, would have done the same thing with you."

"I don't think she meant it when she said she didn't love you." Ulrich says.

"Or maybe she did Odd. Don't try to understand girl's thoughts, it's too hard." Jeremie says and I shake my head.

"No. I'm sure she would have done the same thing if any of you were in there. She just latched onto the first friend she saw, which happened to be me." Ulrich gives me a scowl, but doesn't say anything. It's the kind of scowl that seems to say: 'you know that's not true.' I just shake my head and walk on. After a couple of minutes, we reach the mall. The girls immediately drag us to the nearest clothes store. Ulrich, Jeremie and I sit for a couple of minutes while the girls sort through the large amounts of clothing racks, looking for something good. Yumi immediately goes for the black clothes, and Aelita pulls out all pink clothes. Avery, I see, seems to go more for blue. Blue and gray. After about ten minutes, they drag us to the next store.

"Well Avery, it seems to be a good thing we brought the boys along." Aelita says with a smile.

"Yup, they are very good bag handlers." Yumi says and they all laugh. Ulrich got stuck with the first load, about five bags full. After the next store, Jeremie comes out with four bags, and it's my turn in the next one. I come out with about a million bags. By the time this whole shopping parade is over, they've bought enough clothes to clothe an entire third world country. Well, almost. After that, just like Avery promised, we go to the food court. I check my wallet and come up disappointed.

"Ah man, I've only a couple of bucks." I say.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Now I can only buy two pizzas slices instead of four." Everyone laughs at that. I get in line and buy a slice of pepperoni and sausage pizza to start, along with a Mountain Dew. I go and sit down with the others.

"Man, I just love this shirt!" Yumi is saying. She's holding up a black shirt that says: 'It's okay to be jealous, not everyone can be me' in green letters.

"Hey, I'm not jealous! Well, at least I don't think so…" I say and Yumi smiles.

"This isn't my shirt, it's Avery's."

"Well, that changes everything. Now, I'm extremely jealous!" I say and Avery smacks me upside the head again.

"Come on! What is this, beat up Odd day? I've been hit more times today than in the last week!"

"Well, you've deserved it more times today than in the last week." Aelita says smiling. I throw up my hands in defeat.

"Fine, I concede."

"Odd, did you just say concede?" Ulrich asks.

"Yah, so?"

"Where are you learning all these big words? You're using them correctly!"

"Ah my good pal, that is one secret that I will never reveal."

We talk and laugh for the rest of the day, enjoying each other's company. By about 5:45, we decide to go back and have a soccer game, Ulrich vs. Me. It will be dark soon, so we have to hurry. We run over to the soccer field by the school and wait while Ulrich runs back and grabs his soccer ball. 

"Hey guys, I just checked up on our favorite virus." Jeremie says putting away his laptop.

"And?" Yumi asks. We haven't seen a hair of XANA since Avery put her firewall in place.

"He's completely stuck. Avery, your firewall is amazing!"

"Thanks Jeremie…." She says.

"How did you come up with the idea for scrambling the…." I just tune him out again, he's starting to talk computer talk. I spot Ulrich coming in his full soccer gear… that's what took him so long!

"Hey, no fair!"

"What?" He asks innocently.

"You have all your soccer stuff on!"

"So?"

"So that's an unfair advantage!"

"Oh darn. Maybe you should just quit now before you get beaten." He says with a smirk.

"Oh, no. You're not winning that easily." I say. We walk out to the middle of the field and place the soccer ball in between us.

"Okay guys, I want a good clean game, okay?" Jeremie says, acting as referee.

"Sure."

"Yah, okay."

"First one to five points wins." And with that Jeremie tossed the ball up into the air. It comes down and I head it towards Ulrich's goal and take off. The game is a fierce one, we battle that ball back and forth for a good half hour. It's starting to get dark, and Ulrich scores. We bring the ball back to the middle again.

"Okay guys, Ulrich has only one point to win. Odd, you still need two. Go!" He tosses it up again, Ulrich gets the ball and runs down the field. He takes a wild shot, it hits the goal post and bounces off. I retrieve it and we run back the other way. I see Ulrich waiting for me, so I run harder. I do a quick turn-around and flip the ball around us. I kick it hard and it soars into the goal. Once again, we bring the ball back into the middle.

"Okay, this is game point. I want you guys to shake hands and congratulate each other for a good game now, because I doubt you're going to have enough energy afterwards." Jeremie says. We shrug our shoulders and shake hands. In the background, I hear Yumi cheering for Ulrich.

"Well Ulrich, looks like you've found your motivation." I say. He smiles.

"I think you might have some too." I listen again and I hear Avery cheering for me.

I smile back as Jeremie throw the ball into the air again. I head the ball towards Ulrich's goal, only to be stopped by him. He kicks it back towards me, over my head. I run hard, and catch the ball before it goes in. I run back to the center where Ulrich is waiting for me. We go back and forth for a while, both of us refusing to give in to the other. Ulrich finds a gap in my defense and charges through. I quickly slide tackle him, knocking him over, and the ball away. I jump up and grab the ball, charging for Ulrich's goal while he is getting up. He dashes after me and catches up quickly. Seeing this as my last chance, I nail the ball as hard as I can. I flies towards the goal but falls short. It stops just a few feet short of the line. Ulrich grabs it and pelts it towards my goal. I don't have any energy left to run after it, it flies across the entire field, an amazing kick. With sure accuracy, it hits the back of the net in my goal. I collapse on the ground exhausted.

"Ah man…." I say. Ulrich is sitting on the ground a couple of feet away, panting heavily.

"Good- good game Odd." He says. I just nod, not having enough energy to speak. I see Yumi, Aelita, and Avery walking over. I point this out to Ulrich and he stands up.

"Excuse me Odd, I've got to go and give a goodnight kiss to the perfect girl." He says.

"No fair! You can't kiss Avery!" I yell after him, and he just laughs. After Yumi leaves, Jeremie and Aelita walk off hand in hand. Ulrich walks off to our dorm, leaving me with Avery.

"Well Madam, would you like an escort back to you private mansion?" I say in an British accent.

"Of course I would Odd, but it's hardly a mansion." She smiles at me. We walk back to her dorm, enjoying each other's company.

"Are you going to be okay tonight? I mean, after what happened earlier…." I ask her. She looks at me, I can see the gratitude in her green eyes.

"Yah, I'll be okay. Don't worry about me."

"You know I can't help it."

"Thank you Odd." She leans up and looks at me. "For everything." I feel myself blush as she kisses me on the cheek. She opens her door and steps inside, while I just stand there silently.

"And Odd…."

"Yah?"

"You can keep the key." She closes the door.

* * *

**This was sort of a filler too... I'll try to keep to the main plot more. If there is one. Well, last time I promised one quote for every review(yes I did, look it up!), so here they are!**

**303. Don't make fun of dumb people, or they will make fun of you for being smart.**

**305. My love is like a cockroach: Once is comes it never goes away.**

**299. You're arrogant, ignorant, and incompetant. Those are the three worse traits a human being can have.**

**292. That's repetitive and redundant.  
**

**287. Do I listen to pop music because I'm miserable, or am I miserable because I listen to pop music? (Dont kill me if you like pop!)**

**300. If you choose to follow Satan, you are at the mercy of a being who has no mercy.**

**There, six quotes from the almighty list of doom! I'm going to make a habit of leaving at least one quote on every chapter. So until next time, see you later! Review!  
**


	11. Girls are Vicious

**Chappychappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy****chappy!**

**Yay! Another chapter in this epic saga! Or I wish it was. Not quite as epic as my imagination wishes it was. But it's pretty good, I know that because of all you people who review! Thankyouthankyou****thankyou****thankyou****thankyou****thankyou****thankyou****thankyou****thankyou!  
I'm kind of sugar high right now... so don't bother me!  
Sugarsugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar****sugar!  
Have I scared you people yet? If I have, review! Please! Aaaaaanyways, now on to the chapter! **

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) 

I woke up at normal time, and to see Odd awake before me. This was become more and more commonplace now. But the weird thing is that Odd is sitting off the edge of his bed, staring at a key that is dangling from his hand.

"Odd?" He doesn't respond. "Odd, what are you doing?"

"Do you know what this is?" He asks me.

"It's a key."

"Yah. But it's a special key."

"What's it go to?" I ask.

"Avery's dorm." It rings a bell, Odd told me before how he had gotten into Avery's locked room on the first day Avery had gone to Lyoko.

"You should return it."

"I was going too…."

"Why didn't you?"

"Avery said I could keep it."

"What?"

"Last night when I dropped her off at her room, before she closed the door. She said I could keep the key. Before I could say anything, she closed her door." He puts the key on his desk.

"Odd, I think she might really like you…."

"No Ulrich. She doesn't. She wouldn't lie to me like that…."

"People do strange things when they're nervous. Trust me, I would know. I could barely talk when I first asked Yumi out. I think she said yes as a first impulse."

"You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think she's just playing with my emotions. She knows she can do that. Man, girls are vicious!" He says laughing.

"I've got to admit, sometimes they are. How many times did you get hit yesterday?"

"Too many. I can't count that high."

"Come on man, let's go take a shower." We head out and take our showers. Odd doesn't say much, but I can tell he's thinking about what I said. Whether what Avery claimed was true or not. Somehow, I can tell. I can tell he loves her, and that she loves him. It's in her eyes. Just the way she looks at him. We get dressed quickly and head down for breakfast. Well, I do. Odd does his normal routine of going to get Avery. I grab my breakfast and sit down. Soon after Jeremie walks in with Aelita.

"Hey guys." I say and take a drink.

"Hi Ulrich. Where's Odd?" I furrow my brow.

"Come on Aelita, you should be smarter than that. Where would Odd possibly go to make him late for breakfast?" She grins sheepishly at me.

"I should have known. Avery?"

"You bet."

"Speak of the devil himself." Jeremie says as Odd walks up with Avery.

"Are you guys talking about me again?" Odd asks.

"Of course Odd! Didn't you hear Jeremie say devil?" Avery says.

"Hey, that was uncalled for."

"Yah, but you set yourself up for it."

"You know Odd, she has a point." I put in.

"You know what? Yah. You can just… yah." He sits down and starts eating.

"Odd, that has got to be the lamest insult I have ever heard." I say. He scowls at me.

"I'm hungry. Just wait until I'm full, then you'll be hearing things like monkey-breath, cheese-head, fish-brain and things like that." We all laugh and Avery sits down in between Odd and me.

"So Avery, do you have your schedule?" I ask her.

"No, but I'll get it. Mr. Delmas said he is going to introduce me to all my teachers personally."

"Why?"

"I dunno, something like because it's the middle of the school year. Students don't normally come during the middle of the year, right?"

"Usually."

"So I guess it's just a one time deal. Whatever. I just hope I get some good classes."

"Yah right, not at this school." Odd says.

"Well, I had better go now. Kind sir, would you care to escort me to the principal's office?" Avery asks. I turn back to my breakfast.

"Ulrich?" I look over to see Avery looking at me.

"Oh, did you mean me?" She nods at me strangely. "Okay then." I push my tray towards Odd, who takes it eagerly, and walk out of the lunchroom with Avery.

"Why did you want me to come?" I ask her when we're outside.

"Is there a problem?"

"No… but I assumed you would want to go with Odd."

"What, is it illegal to associate with my other friends?"

"Well, no, I guess not. But you and Odd just seem to get along really well."

"So because I get along really well, that means I need to automatically spend every waking moment with him?"

"Well, uh, no… I mean, maybe… I mean, uh…." I stop when I realize she's teasing me.

_Odd's right, girls are vicious!_

"I'm just kidding Ulrich. Gosh, you need to lighten up."

"Ah, there you are Mrs. Hathawaye." Mr. Delmas was waiting for her outside his office.

"Hello Mr. Delmas." She says timidly. I've noticed this, how she's completely different around different people. She's timid and shy around others, but when she's with us, she's a fireball.

"Thank you Mr. Stern for bringing her here, you may go to class now." He puts his hand on Avery's shoulder.

"Be careful with her Mr. Delmas. She's a fragile little flower that needs to be treated with care." I grin and walk off as Mr. Delmas leads her into his office. I look back, she's glaring daggers at me. If she was in range, I'm sure she would have smacked me upside the head like she did to Odd. I run off to first period science and sit down next to Odd. A few minutes into first period, Mr. Delmas walks in with Avery behind him. She notices us and waves, we wave back.

"Class, we have a new student." Mrs. Hertz says.

"This is your new classmate, I'll let her introduce herself." Mr. Delmas says. I give her an encouraging smile.

"Um… Hi. My name is Avery Hathawaye… I just moved here from the United States… I um… like computers and athletics." She says, barely looking up.

"And I'm sure she will be very welcome here." Mr. Delmas says, glaring at us all.

"You may sit down behind Odd and Ulrich dear." Mrs. Hertz says. "Ulrich, raise your hand so she knows who you are." Feeling stupid, I thrust my hand into the air.

"Hi Ulrich." She waves and walks towards me. Everyone else in the classroom seems stunned as she gives me a hug. 'This new girl has already become friends with the most popular guy in school?' 'Is she going to go out with him?' 'No fair!' I hug her back, surprised. Avery takes the seat behind me.

"That was kind of weird… why did she hug you?" Odd whispers to me.

"I dunno…." I whisper back. I look back up at Mrs. Hertz, who is doing another lecture. Usually during this, I would sit and dream of Yumi. So I do. But as soon as Mrs. Hertz turns around, someone slaps me upside the head.

"Ow!" I say quietly. I look over at Odd who is laughing at a certain someone behind me. Everyone in the class begins to whisper among themselves, probably thinking this must mean I'm dating her. I turn around to see Avery smiling at me innocently.

"What was that for?" I whisper.

"For that fragile flower crack." She answers.

"Well, that was pretty funny…." I grin.

"Ulrich! If a 1000 Kg car hit me at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour what would happen?" Mrs. Hertz asks me. I turn around quickly and stumble for the answer.

"Uh… uh… you would die?" I just said the first answer that came to my head. Unfortunately, everyone starts laughing. Mrs. Hertz just sighs.

"Yes probably. Unfortunately, that was not the answer I was looking for. It would transfer all of it's kinetic energy to my body."

"Oh, yah. I knew that."

"Please pay more attention Ulrich. You can visit with Miss Hathawaye after class." I sigh and slump back down in my seat.

"Why always me?" I whisper to myself. The rest of the class is as boring as ever, it's amazing I'm passing science at all. After class, I try to talk to Avery some more, but she has to hurry off. The principal is going to introduce her every period and then let her stay for the rest.

As it turns out, I have Avery in English, Science, Music and PE. Odd has her the other period in Art. Somehow I have a strange feeling that this is a set-up, I mean we do have a superhacker on our hands. School placement files? Probably pretty easy compared to what she's used to. For PE she's lucky. She apparently 'didn't know that she had PE' so she didn't have to suit up. Jim seemed really disappointed that he couldn't see her run today after she said she liked track.

"Well, I guess tomorrow then. Make sure you have proper PE attire tomorrow!" He says.

"Yes sir." She replies and walks over to me. "Does Mr. Morales-."

"Call him Jim. Everyone else does."

"Okay... does Jim always yell at people even when they're standing right in front of him?" I laugh.

"Always. You get used to it after a while." Jim tells Avery to walk laps around the gym while we play dodgeball again.

_Why is it always dodgeball?_

I don't think Odd feels like playing but I see him give a little effort. He manages to get a couple of people out. Meanwhile, I've been scoring like a madman. Kid after kid falls underneath my rule. A ball flies high in the air near Jim, I catch it. It gets the person out and I throw the ball back, hitting another person.

"Good going Ulrich! Reminds me of when I was a dodgeball player…."

"You were a dodgeball player?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." I run away and begin play again. Even when Odd isn't playing his best, he still is pretty good. He nails the second to last player on my team and I realize something. It's just me and Odd left. I hear Odd's team cheering him on, and my team cheering me on. Odd doesn't seem to notice, and I don't pay attention. I'm used to having fans. I chuck a ball at Odd, he dodges it easily. He lazily tosses one back, I don't even have to move. He walks over to the sideline, not really caring and grabs a ball. He straightens up to see my ball flying at him, and he ducks again. I lean against the wall, waiting for something to give Odd motivation. I glance over at Avery, who seems to notice. She calmly walks over to Odd and says something to him. He straightens up and looks at her disbelievingly. Then he gets mad. He turns and glares at me.

"Come on Odd, bring it on." I yell. I stretch out my hand and beckon him forward. He reaches down and grabs a ball. He throws it with amazing speed at me, I just barely manage to jump out of the way.

_Ooooh, now this is interesting…_.

I grab a ball and hurl it back, he sidesteps easily. We go on like that for about five minutes, the crowd is yelling louder and louder.

"Ulrich! Ulrich!" One side is chanting my name.

"Odd! Odd! Odd!" The other side is chanting Odd's name. This is an all out slugfest between us, like the practice sessions we used to have on Lyoko. I grab a ball while running and throw it at Odd, he ducks and grabs a ball himself. I stand up straight and he fires. I jump out of the way, but too late. My foot accidentally kicked up and hit the ball as I dove. I got out in dodgeball! That has never happened before!

One side of the gym erupts in cheers while the other groans. I walk up to Odd and put out my hand. He still glares at me, furious for whatever Avery had said to him. Knowing Jim was watching, he shakes my hand.

"How could you do that to Yumi? To Avery?" He says through clenched teeth. I look at him bewildered.

"Do what?" He pulls his hand away and walks off. Avery just smiles and runs after him. A few minutes later, after some intense conversation in the corner, they come back. Avery is still smiling, but Odd just looks kind of disgusted with himself. Jim calls on me to lead my team in another hundred pushups because we lost.

"Come on people! It's only a hundred!" I yell to them after about 65. They groan at me. My soccer coach said strong legs aren't the only thing, strong arms are good too. So he had us all do pushups as well. I could do end up doing about 90 before I start to get really tired. When we finish Jim just looks at us in disgust.

"Okay, we have five minutes left people, do whatever you want. Just stay in the Gym!" He yells and walks off. I immediately go to Avery who is standing near Odd.

"Okay, do I want to know what you said?" I ask.

"No, you don't." Odd says and he walks off. I look at Avery and raise an eyebrow. She laughs at his reaction.

"I just asked him a simple question."

"Which was?"

"What would you say if I was dating Ulrich secretly behind Yumi's back?" I do a double take.

"What? You said that to him? That's harsh!"

"Calm down Ulrich. I just wanted to see how he would react. And he reacted a little bit more furious than I thought he would. Notice I never said I was going out with you, I just said I wanted to know what he would say." She smiles innocently and walks inside the locker room for Jim had just blown the whistle. Two thoughts ran through my head.

_Man, girls are vicious!_

And the second one hit me even harder.

_She **IS** just playing with his emotions!_

I make a mental note to confront her after Gym and try and stop her before she does something that she would regret. Odd is prone to overreacting, especially when it's with his emotions. I head into the locker room, lagging after everyone else like I usually do.

* * *

**Okay, another chappy done! Off of da list! I have about thirty seconds before I'm off of da computer for the night so... REVIEW!  
Review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!****review!**

**308. Man says to woman: I would go to the ends of the world for you!  
Woman replies: Would you stay there?**

**310. Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.**

**(I hope no one takes offense to the girls vicious thing. I was a joke between me and my friends. Some of them are girls too) **


	12. Cold Truth Isn't So Cold Anymore

**Hey people, this chapter is dedicated to Amaherst. I don't know if Amaherst even reads this story, I don't think so. For all those who don't know, Amaherst put up three oneshots in two days, all of which are awesome. Totally my inspiration to write/update.**

**I'm actually surprised at how quickly some of you hated Avery. Last chapter, I made it so she made a mistake. Everyone does it. This chapter will explain some of the reasoning, but not all. That's being saved for later. If you are totally perfect, and have never made any mistake EVER, than I give you full right to bash Avery and everyone else on the planet. If not, then please don't. I got two flames on the last chapter, both calling Avery a bitch (one was even spelled wrong). For all those who didn't immediately shun Avery and decide that once she hurt Odd you would give up on her, thanks to you. You all get my great thanks.**

**Sorry if it sounds like i'm ranting (even though I basically am) I just don't like it when mean people call nice people a bitch. One time a jerk did it to the real Avery (the one that I know) and I almost hit him. She definitely did not deserve that.**

**I have talked WAAAAY too much, so I'm going to get on with the story. This is probably the chapter you all have been waiting for/expecting. Trust me. I doubt anything in this will be much of a surprise. **

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) 

After PE gets out I quickly find Avery, she's leaning against the wall outside the gym. She actually seemed to be waiting for me.

"Hi Ulrich." She says when I get close enough.

"Hey Avery. You already know what I'm going to say, don't you?"

"I-I think so."

"Okay, take a guess."

"I'm playing with Odd's emotions."

"Wow. You got it exactly."

"And before you say anything, I'd like to say sorry."

"Wait, what?" I ask, doing a double take. Most people don't just right out say sorry.

"I'm sorry. I went to far."

"Wow, what brought about this sudden change of heart?"

"Odd's reaction today. He… he did a little bit more than I thought he would."

"What were you expecting him to do?"

"Uh…." I think I just realized something.

"You like him, don't you?" She stares at me with wide eyes.

"What makes you think that?"

"Oh, I don't know. Just the fact that you always seem to be around him. The fact that you let him keep your dorm key. That your always teasing him, always laughing with him."

"So? Does that mean we can't be just good friends?"

"It could. But Jeremie said the same thing about Aelita, and now they're together. I said the same thing about Yumi, and we ended up going out. It's a natural habit, to deny that you love someone."

"Well… uh…." She's speechless. This is one of the only times she's been unable to come up with a response.

"Do you love him or not?"

"Uh… no. I don't Ulrich. I don't know what your talking about." Her voice starts shaking a little bit, so I go in farther.

"Okay, prove it. Show me something, something that shows you don't love Odd."

"I-I can't. I just can't Ulrich." I see tears well up in her eyes and know I went too far. She sinks down against the wall and cries. I kneel next to her.

"Avery, denying it wont help. You can deny it all you want, but if you still feel the same inside, it won't help." She hugs me and starts to cry into my shoulder. I put my arm around her carefully, trying not to look like we're sharing a too intimate moment. If Yumi or Odd were to walk up right now, it would not be a pretty scene.

"I-I can't Ulrich. I can't love Odd. I just can't."

"Why not?"

"I-I can't tell you."

"Avery, look at me." She refuses, so I lift up her chin until she's looking straight at me.

"Do you love Odd or don't you? I don't care if you shouldn't or whatever. Do you love him or not?" She looks at me and shudders.

"Yes. Yes I do. But I can't, it just can't be like this!" She looks down again and cries.

_It's a good thing school is over._

"Don't cry Avery, it will be okay. I'm not going to ask, it's not my business. Let's go back to your room now." She nods, so I help her stand up and walk back with her to her room.

Everyone gives us strange looks along the way, but I ignore them. I can't blame them though. Not to brag or anything, but I seem to be the most popular guy in school, mostly because of Sissi. Walking along with a new girl who's crying has got to look pretty weird. When we get to her room, I set her down on her bed.

"I'll see you at dinner, okay?"

"Okay… and Ulrich?"

"Yah?"

"Please don't tell Odd." I smile.

"I won't."

"Thanks Ulrich, you're a great friend."

"I'm only a great friend because I have great friends. See you later." I lock her door and walk outside.

I walk around the school, looking for Odd. Big mistake. As soon as I enter the courtyard, I'm besieged by a multitude of people, all girls.

"Ulrich? How could you do this?"

"Why Ulrich?"

"She's not even pretty!"

"You would do so much better with me!"

"How could you pick the new girl?" I put up my hands to tell them to shut up. Doesn't work.

"Shut up!" That got their attention. "I am NOT going out with Avery!" One girl I don't even recognize speaks up.

"Then why were you walking with her?"

"Because she's my friend! Is that illegal?"

"Why was she crying?" Some other girl pipes up.

"That's none of your business."

"She looked **really** comfortable with you…." Everyone is ganging up against me.

"That's because I've known her for longer than almost anyone else here."

"Did she ask you out and you rejected her?" I'm beginning to get a little peeved.

"No, we're not dating!"

"So you're not dating her?"

"No! I just said that!" I should have told them about Yumi. Immediately I get about a billion offers to be with this girl or that. Believe it or not, they actually get into a fight over me. Trust me, having fifteen girls fighting over you is not as cool as it sounds. Luckily, I manage to slip out of the group and run off before Jim comes over. I need to find somewhere to think. So I go to my usual place, my tree in the park. I run through the courtyard (far away from the dissipating fight) and into the forest. I reach my tree and tiredly lay against the trunk.

"Hey Ulrich, what happened to you?" I look around but there's no one in sight.

"Who's there?" I ask tentatively.

"Look up genius." I look up and see my favorite purple-clad friend sitting on a low branch. I scowl.

"Another brawl."

"With who?"

"Actually, I wasn't a part of it."

"Ah, another chick fight?"

"Yup. This one was the weirdest though. I'll bet you ten bucks you've dated most of those girls."

"I'm going to ignore that last comment and ask what the weird part was."

"Ah, nothing." He stands up and leans over on the branch.

"Tell me before I land on you."

"Okay okay! Everyone thought I was going out with Avery. Jeez, you don't have to threaten me."

"So… I take it that means you're not going out with her? Especially not secretly behind Yumi's back?"

"Absolutely not. Don't worry, Avery told me why you got so pissed during Gym."

"Ulrich, I-"

"Apology accepted. Don't worry about it. I would have been pissed if Yumi did the same thing to me."

"Good. But you have the right to be pissed if you think your girlfriend is cheating on you."

"Ah, whatever. Don't worry about it. Everyone in the gang now knows you want to go out with Avery."

"Yah, well, they also know that she doesn't like me."

"And most everyone thinks that she does. Just give it some time Odd, maybe her feelings will change." I can't help but smile now that I know the truth. Even if I don't know the reason behind it. True to my word, I will not tell him about what Avery said. I'll leave that to her. I'm just going to have a talk with her later.

"Mm, maybe."

"Oh Ulrich dear, there you are!" I spot Sissi walking over to me.

_Don't I ever get one day without her bugging me?_

"What do you want now Sissi? Did you come to claim victory from that little scuffle over there?" I point towards the school.

"Yah right, I'm too mature to be involved in something like that. I just came to tell you that I heard some rumors flying around today."

"Like what?"

"Like oh, you have been planning to ask me out for a while. That you've just been playing hard to get."

"And what makes you think any of those are true? I mean they're rumors for crying out loud!"

"Yes, but everyone also knows that rumors usually have a basis in fact."

"First, that's legends. Legends usually have a basis is fact. But do you want the truth? The truth about how much I love you?"

"Th-the truth? Do you really love me?"

"Yah, I love you just about as much as I do Odd's snoring. In fact, they're both so fucking annoying that I want to strangle the person responsible sometimes." Sissi looks really taken aback.

"Do you really mean that?"

"Uh, yah, or else I wouldn't have said it. Now just go away." I say and look away.

"I'll go away when Odd drops out of the sky!" She yells at me. Right on cue, Odd hops out of the tree and lands beside me.

"There you go. Now go away." She looks dumbfounded, so we just walk past her. I turn around to look at her again, she has a large cut on the back of her neck.

_So she was a part of the fight!_

I point this out to Odd and we both laugh as Sissi's pathetic attempt to make me her boyfriend.

"I swear, she's getting worse and worse at this." I mention to Odd.

"Oh yah. Even stealing your diary and blackmailing you with it was better than this. At least that one worked for a while."

"She needs some new ideas."

"Careful Ulrich, you sound like you want to go out with her."

"Oh no way. It's just really fun to smash all her ideas into little tiny bits. Come on Odd, we have homework to do." I say. We both head back to our room, still joking about Sissi and her failures.

* * *

**See what I mean? I mean, come on. How many of you were surprised at what Avery said? I doubt very many of you. I'll bet your wondering why Avery said she couldn't love him though. Review with any ideas you might have, i'd love to see (and of course not laugh) at them. I already know what it is, I just want to see how many of you think along the same lines as me.**

**Someone in a review, I can't remember who, explained to me something about how I was wrong last chapter about the answer when Mrs. Hertz asked Ulrich that one question. He tried to explain it to me... but I didn't understand a word of it. Sorry. Please, just go easy on the guy who's failing science. And English. Yes, I know i'm pathetic.**

**If anyone spots something like that, where i'm totally wrong about something, please don't hesitate to point it out to me and if possible explain what the right thing is. I usually will do something completely wrong and not even know it. I don't pay attention in science, i'm kind of like Odd. I pride myself on the fact that I have never fallen asleep in science, no matter how tired I am. **

**I would like everyone to review and tell me if I did good on this chapter. rate me 1-10, ten being good. Be serious, but not generous. **

**Wow, I am doing a lot of commentary this chapter... so i'm going to shut up and let you get on with the rest of your more important lives. As promised, a quote or two:**

**352. What you call stupidity, I call selective understanding.**

**342. If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting? **


	13. Initiation

**Sorry it's been so long since I updated. I haven't been doing so good with that... I hope you all forgive me. Thanks to all those who gave me a 10 (or higher) even though I don't believe I deserve it. I definitely welcome all critisism or flames. I've always done that. So for you anonymous reviewers who just like to flame people for things they did wrong, go ahead. I like critisism. Usually. I'm rambling again! This chapter starts out a little slow, but it does get a little better towards the end.**

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) 

Odd and I were working on our homework in our room, well at least I was. Odd was sitting on his bed listening to headphones the entire time.

"Odd, aren't you going to do it at all?" I ask him, exasperated.

"Why bother? I'm going to get an 'F' on it anyway." He says and begins humming to his music so he doesn't have to listen to me. I grab a blank paper from the desk and crumple it into a ball. I begin talking to him, even though I know that he can't hear me. Actually, I don't want him to hear me.

"Odd, if you say 'what' when you realize I'm talking to you, I'm going to nail you with this paper ball." I say to him and smile. He looks at me strangely and pulls off his headphones.

"What?" Like I promised, I hit him with the ball. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Hey, I warned you."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did, you just couldn't hear me."

"Oh shut up Ulrich." He says and turns around. Just for the fun of it, I hit him with another ball.

"You do that again, and we're going to have a war on our hands." He says without turning around. So of course, I do. This one nails him in the head, the next nails him in the face just as he turns around.

"Alright, this means war."

"Bring it, I have all the paper over here." I say, and he frowns. After a long and vicious battle, he ends up with his face stuffed in the carpet, me sitting on top of him triumphantly, and three paper balls down his shirt.

"Lucky little…." He says through the carpet just before I push his face back into the carpet.

"Haha, I win. I'm gonna go see Yumi now, I'll see you later." I say and get off of him.

"Give her a nice looooong kiss for me, would you?" He asks mockingly, sitting up.

"Ah shut up Odd, you're just jealous because the girl I love loves me back." He frowns again.

"That wasn't funny Ulrich." He says in all seriousness.

"Lighten up Odd! Geez, you act like you actually had a relationship and she dumped you."

"Oh shut up." He says. I don't mind teasing him, because I know the truth, and eventually Odd and Avery will be together.

"Come on Odd, go talk to her. Have fun. Stop acting like it's the end of the world because you're not with her." I say and help him up. I refrain from laughing as the paper balls fall out of his shirt.

"Oh fine. But just because you told me to."

"Good boy." I open the door and walk outside. "Oh, by the way, be on the lookout for anything suspicious. Xana hasn't attacked in a long time."

"Oh come on Ulrich, you and I both know that Avery's firewall prevents him from doing anything." Odd says and walks out of the room. Not more than three seconds later, a ball of energy nearly cuts my ear off. I whip around to see Theo standing at the end of the hall with his hand raised. His hand is glowing orange.

"Um, Odd? I think that qualifies as suspicious." He nods.

"Yah. You stall Theo, I'll get everyone to the factory." I nod and he runs off.

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

I nod to Ulrich, and we take off in separate directions. Theo stares for a second, then runs after Ulrich. I hear a sickening thud, but I keep running.

_Ulrich can handle himself… I hope._

I race down to Avery's dorm and throw the door open. Luckily, she isn't doing anything private, just sitting on her bed.

"Odd?" She looks at me. I notice that her eyes are red and puffy, she has been crying. But there's no time right now.

"Xana's attacking, we need to go now!" I say, and she stands up.

"Let's go." She says. We take off running towards the factory. I pull out my phone and call Yumi, telling her to meet us there. I also call Jeremie and make sure he's picking up Aelita. We arrive at the factory, Yumi is already there. Jeremie and Aelita show up a couple minutes after we do. Jeremie steps off at the control room, Avery, Aelita, Yumi and I go down to the scanners.

"Okay, let's send the warriors first." Jeremie says through the speakers. I step into one scanner, Yumi into the middle one, and Avery across from me. Aelita settles herself down to wait.

"Transfer Odd, transfer Avery, transfer Yumi." The familiar bright light bursts into the scanner, nearly blinding me again. I close my eyes to shut it out.

"Scanner Odd, scanner Avery, scanner Yumi." Wind begins to blow all around, making my shirt flap against my chest and my hair fly everywhere.

"Virtualization!" Jeremie yells. The wind blows harder, and then I don't feel anything. After a second, I open my eyes and see the familiar landscape of the desert sector falling around me. I land on all fours, like a cat as Avery and Yumi land beside me. A minute later, Aelita drops out of the sky and lands beside me.

"Okay guys, the tower is due north. It looks like just three crabs heading your way." Jeremie says from nowhere.

"Only three crabs?" I ask disappointed, "That's it? I can take on three crabs by myself!"

"Well, that's a good thing. It makes it easier for Avery's first mission." I slap myself on the head.

"Of course! How could I have possibly forgotten? Initiation!" I say loudly. Aelita and Yumi look at me strangely.

"What initiation?" Avery asks, mildly interested.

"We've got to see how many crabs you can take out by yourself before you're devirtualized! It's kind of like a test of your powers. Initiation to the group!" I say, grinning like mad.

"Odd! That's mean! We didn't have to do that!" Yumi says.

"That's really mean for Avery's first mission!" Aelita pipes in.

"Actually, sounds like fun!" Avery says. Everyone, including me, does a double take.

"You really want to?" Yumi asks.

"You don't have to." Jeremie says.

"Yah, I want to do it. So I can know how good I am compared to you guys." She says.

"You know I was just kidding," I say, "Right?"

"Yah, I know. But I still want to do it. Who's got the record for the most crabs?" She asks.

"Ulrich does, with 7 crabs." Jeremie says.

"Okay, here I go!" She says. Jeremie sends the overboard, and she takes off. Yumi and I prepare to jump in at any time. We run up to a close distance, but not close enough to interrupt the fight.

The crabs come on strong, three in triangle formation. Avery immediately flies towards them, releasing two energy blasts. They both miss. A crab takes a shot, and in one hit, knocks out the overboard. I literally wince and turn to Yumi.

"Not exactly a great way to start off, is it?" I say to her.

"No, not really. But shut up and watch." Yumi says. I turn back and see Avery compose herself. The crabs open fire, and she dodges them all with cartwheels and flips.

"Woah!" I say to no one in particular. The crab prepares to fire, but before it can Avery shoots two more blasts. It hits two of the legs of the crab, seriously throwing it off balance. It fires and the blast hits one of the other crabs, which explodes. The last crab opens fire, Avery puts up her purple shield that looks exactly like mine. She then jumps onto the crab, but the crab wobbles around, trying to throw her off. She does a backflip off, firing three energy blasts in midair. None of them hit the eye, but the crab explodes anyway. She easily dispatches with the last crippled crab.

"Woah, nice job." Jeremie says. Yumi, Aelita and I run down to her to congratulate her. As soon as we reach her, I give her a huge hug.

"You were awesome!" I say and set her down. She backs away and looks at me, her eyes growing huge. She points a finger at me, it glows white, like she's going to shoot me.

"Hey, what the," I say backing away, "Avery? What are you-" She fires. The blast flies by my ear and something behind me explodes. I turn around to see the remnants of a crab, which must have just been virtualized, disappear.

"Watch your back Odd." She says smiling at me. Yumi and Aelita giggle.

"Okay guys, we do have a tower to deactivate. I think Ulrich might be in trouble." Immediately, Yumi stops giggling. Jeremie materializes vehicles, an overwing for Yumi and Aelita; an overboard for me; and an overbike for Avery.

"Avery, why the overbike?"

"I'm not much of a skateboarder." She says and we take off. We fly along, coming closer to the edge of the plateau. The tower is just over the edge, on the next one, or so Jeremie tells us.

"Um, problem guys." Jeremie says.

"What's that?" Aelita asks.

"About thirty blocks."

"Say WHAT?" I yell. Then I see them. A huge group of blocks, standing on the very edge of the plateau, ready to fire at us when we get close enough. They're all lined up in a row, just in front of the digital void so there is no going at them from behind.

"This is going to be difficult." I say. I fire a laser arrow at one, but it dodges it somehow.

"Any ideas?" Jeremie asks. Yumi throws her fan at the line, but the blocks shoot it, knocking it off course. The fan returns to her and she catches it.

"One." Avery says. She walks calmly towards the blocks.

"What, a distraction?" I ask.

"No." She says back. The blocks aren't shooting at her, they seem to be wondering what she's doing. Once about ten feet away, she stretches her hands out. She concentrates hard… and all of the sudden, a large white blast radiates from her fingertips, only going towards the blocks. They hit the blocks head on, knocking them all off the edge and into the digital sea. She turns back around and smiles at us.

"All clear Aelita." She says. Aelita quickly runs off towards the tower, while Aelita walks back towards Yumi and me. Suddenly, I see a tarantula come out from behind the tower and get in position to fire at Avery. I quickly extend my wrist and take careful aim.

"Odd? What are you doing?" Avery asks me, backing up. "I didn't hit you, don't hit me." Without responding, I fire three arrows, at least one of them hits the target and the tarantula explodes. I turn back to Avery and smile.

"You really think I would hit you? You just broke the record for the most monsters destroyed in one shot! That's like thirty-three monsters destroyed, and not a single life point lost!"

"I guess I'm pretty good, right?"

"Totally awesome." I say. Avery just smiles sheepishly. Suddenly, a white light bursts from the tower, quickly enveloping us all. The last thing I remember thinking before I fade into the white is:

_Why did we have to return to the past?

* * *

_

**Okay, first and foremost: I do not want to hear any bashing on how Odd was so mean to Avery in her 'initiation'. He was kidding, and Avery took him seriously.**

**Now that that is out of the way, let's see how many of you can guess why they returned to the past. Just let me know in a review. Just to state the obvious, you cannot say 'Theo caused havoc' because that's a given. Try and guess what Theo did and how Jeremie knew to return to the past. Anyone who guesses right or comes close will get a dedication. **

**I reserve the right to say what is close and what isn't. **

**Trust me, what Theo did is probably going to shock you. I might have to change the rating on this fic because of it. Yah, most likely I will. Sorry, but this story is going to get a little dark. And there will be some more adult themes. (Not lemons though)  
**

**The next few chapters are going to be a little confusing about how I placed who tells the story and at what point. I will try to add some helpful commentary along the way to help out my befuddled readers. **

**And now, a quote:**

**359. Peace hrough superior firepower.**

**Thanks for all your support!**_  
_


	14. Death of a Friend

**Wow, has it really been over a month since I updated? I'm really slacking off, aren't I? Anyway, I'm going to hurry and update, I have to go to work soon.****This chapter is dedicated to all those who got close! That includes: TheSuperGirlOfDreams, Lillia Rose and Rycr! Hurray for you!**

**This chapter is semi-confusing, so I'm going to put in little side notes to help you along. Like this next part is just after the RTTP.

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) **

"…smash all her ideas into little tiny bits." Ulrich says. The return to the past dropped us off right after the confrontation with Sissi. I turn to Ulrich to make a comment about how I saved his butt again, but before I can, Ulrich runs over to Sissi and grabs her by the shoulders.

"Sissi! Where's Herb?" She just stares at him.

"Where is Herb?" She shakes herself a little.

"Uh, in his room. Studying. Why?" Ulrich doesn't respond, he just runs off. I race to keep up, Sissi lags behind. I turn the corner just as Ulrich destroys Herb's door. The door falls down and Ulrich rushes inside. I walk up and look inside as well.

Sitting at his desk is Herb. He's not moving, Ulrich is shaking him. Ulrich looks at us with a grave expression.

"What's wrong? Is he sick?" Sissi walks over and looks at him.

"No Sissi. He's dead." Ulrich says, emotion thick in his voice

"Ulrich, this isn't funny. What's really wrong with him?" Sissi manages to say.

"I'm not joking. I'm sorry Sissi." Sissi walks over and hugs his unmoving body.

"No! No! No! This can't be!" I follow Ulrich out the door.

"We need to go tell Mr. Delmas." He says.

"Ulrich, what happened? How did you know Herb was dead?"

"While you were in Lyoko, I was fighting Theo, who was possessed. Just before Aelita deactivated the tower, he wanted to do some lasting damage. A 'going away present' he called it. He shot a fireball at Sissi. Herb pushed her out of the way and took the full brunt of the blast, it piercing his stomach and destroying the wall behind him" My eyes widen considerably.

"Then I called Jeremie and told him to return to the past. It didn't happen in time." I stare ahead, fighting back tears of my own.

"Damn you Xana." I manage to say.

We arrive at the headmaster's office, and the secretary isn't there. So we just walk up to his door and open it. He is sitting at his desk doing paperwork.

"Oh, hello boys. What can I do for you?"

"We found Herb in his room."

"Yes, okay."

"He's dead." Mr. Delmas stands up abruptly.

"What?"

"Herb is dead." He walks over to us.

"Take me there." We take him back to Herb's room, where Sissi is still crying over Herb's body. Ulrich takes Sissi and leads her away. She latches onto him and cries into his chest. I lead them to the bench. Avery, Jeremie and Aelita are there waiting for us.

* * *

**This next part is before the RTTP, just after Theo attacks.

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) **

I think we forgot something: Theo is possessed by an evil AI. He runs after me at an amazing speed. With one hit, he knocks me flat against a wall. I don't think I completely passed out, but I was definitely dazed for a while. After a second, Theo disregards me and runs off. Meanwhile, I can't even move. I can't get my brain to think straight. I shake my head, and some of the dizziness clears. I stand up wobbly and take a few steps. After a moment, I run off as fast as I can towards the factory. As soon as I enter the courtyard, my blood runs cold. Theo is standing there, waiting for me.

"Hello Lyoko Warrior Ulrich, I have been waiting for this. Let the fight begin." He says in his horrible voice. He gets into fighting position. I drop quickly into my own, but I know I'm no match. Right now, I'm only trying to stall for time. He charges me and throws a couple punches. I parry them and throw a hard right to his face. Laughing, he grabs my hand. He takes me by the arm and throws me hard. I get thrown at least ten feet and skid to a halt on the ground.

I stagger back to my feet. I'm still half-dazed from the hit he gave me earlier. Theo charges again, and I take no precautions. I yell as I do a spinning roundhouse kick to his head. This time, he goes sprawling to the ground. Immediately, he gets back up and the fight resumes. I get my ass kicked. Sure, I throw in a couple of good punches, but he just gets back up. I block a shot from the right, only to be hit in the face from the left. I stagger backwards, that's going to leave a bruise.

"Come on Lyoko Warrior Ulrich. Is that all you have? Lyoko Warrior Yumi gave me a better fight than that. Maybe I should go find her instead."

_No! Not Yumi!_

That's it. Once he threatens Yumi, I lose all inhibition. Theo staggers back from a well placed kick to the groin, and I nail him in the face. Left, right, left and a kick to finish the job. Theo falls to the ground, but he isn't fazed. He gets back up and smiles.

"Well, our time here is limited. Your friends have destroyed my monsters, Aelita is preparing to enter my tower. Your new friend is quite good. So, I will leave you with a going away present." He looks to the side, and I look too. My blood runs cold again.

Sissi, Herb and Nicholas were watching the fight. He powers up his hand, until it's glowing bright red. With one swift thrust, he sends a fireball flying with astonishing speed at Sissi. At the last second, Herb pushes her out of the way, the fireball hits him in the stomach. His shirt is incinerated instantly, but that's the least of his worries. The fireball doesn't stop at his stomach, it completely penetrates him, demolishing the wall behind him.

"HERB!" I yell. I try to move, but I can't. I'm too exhausted. As Herb collapses, Sissi and Nicholas just look on wide eyed. After a second, Sissi lets out an anguished cry and bends over Herb. She begins to cry as Herb's blood seeps out through his large wound, onto the ground and her. Theo falls to the ground, showing that they had deactivated the tower. I quickly pull out my cell phone and dial Jeremie's number.

"Ulrich? What's going on?"

"Return to the Past! Now! No time to explain!" Jeremie doesn't even answer, I hear keys typing, and see the large white bubble appear. I fear it's too late to save Herb as the bubble quickly sends me into oblivion….

* * *

(Still Ulrich P.O.V.)

"…smash all her ideas into little tiny bits." I say and stop. The return to the past dropped us off right after my confrontation with Sissi.

_Herb!_

I run over to Sissi and grab her by the shoulders.

"Sissi! Where's Herb?" She just stares at me with a blank expression.

"Where is Herb?" She shakes herself a little.

"Uh, in his room. Studying. Why?" I let go of her and run off. Odd is close behind me and Sissi a little farther back. I run to Herb's room and knock on the door. No one answers.

"Herb? Are you in there?" Still no answer. I grab the doorknob and twist, but the door is locked. Odd and Sissi walk up just as my foot collides with the door. The door springs open to reveal my greatest fear.

Sitting at his desk is Herb. He's not moving, his head is lying on the desk. I run over and shake him, but he doesn't respond. I turn him over, his eyes are closed with a blank expression on his face. Odd and Sissi walk into the room gingerly. I put my ear to his chest to confirm it. Herb has no heartbeat. He is dead.

"What's wrong? Is he sick?" Sissi walks over and looks at him.

"No Sissi. He's dead." Sissi looks at me in shock, Odd gasps. Sissi begins to cry.

"Ulrich, this isn't funny. What's really wrong with him?" Sissi manages to say.

"I'm not joking. I'm sorry Sissi." Sissi realizes I'm not joking, she hugs Herb's body and cries.

"No! No! No! This can't be!" I walk out the door and Odd follows me.

"We need to go tell Mr. Delmas." I say, and he nods.

"Ulrich, what happened? How did you know Herb was dead?"

"While you were in Lyoko, I was fighting Theo, who was possessed. Just before Aelita deactivated the tower, he wanted to do some lasting damage. A 'going away present' he called it. He shot a fireball at Sissi. Herb pushed her out of the way and took the full brunt of the blast, it piercing his stomach and destroying the wall behind him. Then I called Jeremie and told him to return to the past. It didn't happen in time." Odd just look ahead, deep in thought.

"Damn you Xana."

We arrive at the headmaster's office, and the secretary isn't there. So we just walk up to his door and open it. He is sitting at his desk doing paperwork.

"Oh, hello boys. What can I do for you?"

"We found Herb in his room…"

"Yes, okay."

"He's dead." Mr. Delmas stands up abruptly.

"What?"

"Herb is dead." He walks over to us.

"Take me there." We take him back to Herb's room, where Sissi is still crying over Herb's body. I walk over and help Sissi stand up so that her father can look at Herb. As soon as I do, she latches onto me and starts crying even harder into my shoulder. I lead her away so that Mr. Delmas can do whatever he needs to. Odd, Sissi and I walk to the bench where the gang usually sits. Yumi, Avery, Jeremie and Aelita are there waiting for us. Yumi abruptly stands when she sees my arm around Sissi, comforting her.

"Um, guys. We have horrible news." Everyone looks at me confused.

* * *

**I told you so! I feel sorry for Herb. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. But then again, it wouldn't let the story progress much further. So, in other words, Herb sacrificed himself for my story! Moment of silence Okay, moment's over.**

**If you didn't like this part, don't worry, it will get back to the OddxAvery soon. For those of you who did like it, there will be more to come. So now I leave you with another quote:**

**391. Toast always lands butter side down. Cats always land on their feet. Tie them together and you get anti-gravity**

**389. A vase is basically a flower torture device: You rip it from it's home, put it in a small container and watch it die slowly.**


	15. Time is Ticking

**Hey, I'm getting better. It's only been five days since my last update! Before that, it was like a month. This chapter is dedicated to Fox Kitsune, because she gave me a whoppin 195 word review! I'm not so sure I should be encouraging her, she's probably going to go off and scare other authors... but I think she deserves it. Anyways, I'm going to get on with the chapter, because I usually spend WAY too much time talking. And now off we go!**

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) 

"What is it Ulrich?" Avery asks.

"Herb is dead. We uh, _found him in his room,_ and he was dead." I say, emphasizing the in his room part. I don't want Sissi to find out about Lyoko. Immediately, Yumi's face softens. We sit Sissi down on the bench, in between Jeremie and Aelita. Sissi is still crying her eyes out, but she's crying silently now. I kneel down in front of her, Odd and Yumi stand behind me. Avery is sitting next to Aelita, and is watching intently.

"Sissi… are you going to be okay?" I ask her gently. She looks up at me, her makeup running down her cheeks with her tears.

"I-I-I just lost one of my best f-friends…." She states and buries her head in her hands again.

"It will be okay Sissi. Trust me, it will all work out. Don't ask how, but Herb died a heroic death."

"What? How?" I just shake my head.

"Please don't ask how. I'm asking you, as a friend, to not ask. If your father asks, just tell him you found him in his room, dead. Please Sissi, as a friend." Sissi stares at me.

"A f-friend? Really?" I look to the others, who give nods of encouragement.

"Yes Sissi, as a friend." She smiles at me, a warm smile.

"Thank you Ulrich." She hugs me and I hug her back. I quickly look up at Yumi. Yumi looks kind of perturbed, but she's not saying anything. Odd offers to escort Sissi back to her room and she accepts. I notice Avery looks a little disturbed at this too. Wow, jealousy is flying around like a bug today. Especially among the female population of the group.

"Come on guys, let's go somewhere else. I feel kind of bummed right now." I say. Everyone nods, and everyone stands up. Having nothing better to do, we walk around school campus. Eventually we end up sitting at our bench, and Jeremie and Avery start talking about some computer thing that I really don't care about. So I walk over next to Yumi.

"Hey Yumi." I say, grabbing her hand and holding it in mine.

"Hey Ulrich." She replies, leaning in closer to me.

"I need to talk to you in private."

"Okay…" I lead her a little ways away from the group.

"I need to talk to you about the whole Avery thing."

"What's on your mind?"

"Have you heard about the whole ordeal with her and Odd?"

"No. I noticed some things were going on with them, and that they were acting kind of strange, but I didn't know something was going on."

"But you did hear the Odd likes Avery, right?"

"Yah."

"Well, after that first thing on Lyoko, Odd ended up carrying Avery back to her room."

"Yah, I know that too."

"Well, apparently, she rejected him. Told him to get out of her room."

"That's harsh."

"Well, later, after some embarrassing confrontations, Odd wasn't sure about her feelings. So her asked her."

"What did she say."

"Flat out told him no."

"Harsh."

"Well…."

"So you want me to go and talk to her?"

"You know, that's why I love you. You always seem to be able to read my thoughts." She blushes and looks away.

"I need you to go and talk to her. Girl-to-girl. I think out of everyone, you can best understand what she's going through."

"I will Ulrich, you can count on me. I know how to worm information out of my cousin." I smile and she smiles back. I give her a quick kiss and we go back to the others.

"…So I need to reconfigure it and see how it goes." Jeremie says, just finishing.

"You tell me how that goes Jeremie. I've got to go, I have stuff to do." I say, giving Yumi another quick kiss on the cheek.

"Like what?"

"Homework." I say, and walk away. I walk back into my room to find Odd sitting there. He's sitting on his bed playing his guitar. Avery's Song. As soon as I walk in, he stops and looks at me.

"Hey Ulrich." He begins to put it away.

"No, no. Don't mind me. Finish the song." He nods at me.

"I might as well start from the beginning." He says. He begins to play, and I sit down on my bed and listen. It's a really good song. Better than most he's written. Trust me, I would know. He finishes, and put his guitar away.

"Thought of any lyrics yet?" I ask him, he shakes his head.

"Do you want to?" Another shake. I walk over to the desk and pull out my homework. Stupid science homework about something that I am never going to use in real life, but I just do it anyway. After I finish, I turn back to Odd, who is staring at the wall next to his bed.

"Hey Odd, you okay?" He doesn't move.

"Yah, I'm fine," He says blankly, "just thinking about earlier."

"Don't worry about it Odd, Avery made a mistake. She already apologized."

"But I do worry about it. I seriously overreacted."

"Everyone overreacts-"

"Not about some girl that isn't even my girlfriend!" Odd is standing now, glaring at me, "I was jealous of you, of you dating the girl I love, and she doesn't even like me!" He sits back down and puts his face in his hands.

"It's okay Odd." He sits up.

"I'll bet this is just another stupid crush."

"It could be. Or it couldn't. There's no way to tell until later. If you still feel this way in later years, most likely not."

"Why the hell does love have to be so complicated?" Something jars my memory when he said that.

"That is the first time I've heard you cuss this entire week Odd. What's up with that?" He looks at me, but just shrugs it off.

"Avery told me she doesn't like swearing. So, I stopped." I smile.

"Yup, you're in love. You would do anything for Avery, wouldn't you?"

"Yah, I would."

"That's love."

"No it's not. I'm just obsessed with a stupid crush."

"You're impossible Odd." I say and turn back around to work on some other homework. "Come on, I'll give you a hand with some of this stuff." He sighs and pulls up a chair. We work on math together for a little while, but eventually we finish all our homework. Odd turns to me with a serious look on his face.

"Do you think Avery likes me? That she was lying when she told me she didn't?" I remember what Avery confessed to me and smile. But then, I remember what I promised Avery.

"_Please don't tell Odd…."_

"_Don't worry, I won't."_

"You know what Odd," I say, "I can't say. But my best guess would be yes. I think she does like you."

"Well," Odd sighs, "Either way, because of me, I doubt we'll ever be more than friends."

"Don't doubt yourself Odd, you never know what could happen." I say and stand up. "I'm going to go for a walk, I'll be back later, okay?"

"Okay, sure Ulrich. Just wondering, does this walk have anything to do with Yumi?" He asks and grins.

"Actually no. I'm just bored to death. Homework is only fun for so long, you know?" I wave and walk outside. I actually did intend on going on a walk. Straight to Avery's room. I walk downstairs to her dorm room and knock loudly three times.

"Who is it?" She calls from inside.

"The only person who knows the truth about how you feel about Odd." I say. The door quickly bursts open and Avery drags me inside.

"I told you not to tell anyone!" She says.

"Notice I said I was the only one. Meaning I still haven't told anyone. Don't worry about it, I wouldn't betray your secret." I say and she relaxes.

"Good thing too, or else Yumi would be short one boyfriend."

"Hey, was that a threat?"

"Yah. I was thinking of insulting you, but that was better. So… what did you want?" I blow out a puff of air.

"I wanted to talk to you about earlier."

"What, the dodgeball game? I already apologized."

"First off, no, not that. Second, did you apologize to Odd?"

"Uh… not really."

"Better take care of that soon."

"Yah, I know." She sighs. "So, what did you come to talk about?"

"Why you lied to Odd."

"I didn't lie, I asked him a simple ques-"

"No, not that. He asked if you loved him and you lied to him."

"Who says I lied?"

"You did, when you admitted to me something else."

"What if my feelings have just changed?"

"Have they really?" I give her a look that says 'yah, right.'

"Okay, so maybe they haven't changed."

"So, why did you lie?" She sighs again and sits down on her bed.

"It's a long story-"

"I've got time."

"-That I would rather not tell." She finishes.

"Any particular reason?" I ask her, sitting down next to her.

"Yes."

"And that reason is?"

"I'd rather not say that either."

"Will you tell me anything?"

"No."

"Well, that's a lot of help."

"I did it to…." She mumbles off incoherently.

"What was that?"

"I did it because I'm afraid of Odd, okay?" She says loudly. That definitely took me by surprise.

"You're afraid of Odd? What's there to be scared of?"

"Look, I'm not going to explain it, so don't try. And there is absolutely no way you can possibly worm the information out of me. It's locked up for eternity."

"Eternity is a long time." I say smoothly.

"Okay fine. Maybe not for eternity. I might tell Odd someday, but don't expect it to be soon. Just know that something happened to me in America that I'm not soon going to forget."

"Okay, I won't ask anymore questions. I think I've already overstepped my boundaries."

"Indeed you have." She says fairly, as I stand up and walk over to the door.

"I just want to say one thing." I say, turning around.

"What's that?" She asks, looking at me inquisitively.

"If you don't tell Odd soon, I might be forced to."

"Say what?" She yells, jumping up off the bed. She's glaring at me, she has one hell of a short temper.

"Odd is beginning to get more and more depressed. He's eating less and sleeping less. He doesn't think I notice, but I do. Soon, he might try to do something drastic. If he does, I'll have to tell him." Before she can say anything, I walk outside and close the door.

* * *

**Uh oh, that means Avery had better get on with it or Ulrich will have to tell. Something that really confused me today was that Avery(the real one that I know) absolutely refused to talk to me. And because of that, she couldn't tell me why. No matter how many times I apologized for absolutely anything I might have done, she refused to say a word. She confuses me.**

**The next couple chapters are kind of depressing, mostly because that's the way Odd is getting, but there's still a little fluff. Don't worry, after that there will be the biggest, fluffiest chapter I've ever written. I promise. Just know that there won't be much OddxAvery fluff until there. So, thanks for reading, please review, and I leave with a quote:**

**402. You have a woman banging on the front door and a dog scratching at the back door. Which one do you let in? The dog because it will shut up when you let it in. (please take that kind hearted, all the girls I showed that to thought it was hilarious. Well, all except one.)**

**396. I have not failed in finding my true love, I just have found 72 people that aren't my true love. (that might possibly be Odd's motto)**


	16. Surprise Visit

**Hey sorry, I know it's been a while since I updated. I am trying.It's hard to get computer time for me right now.**

**As promised, here is the 16th chapter for An Odd Love, dedicated to Fox Kitsune for her awesome chapter she just posted on A.I. Need You. If you haven't seen it, you need to. Check it out, it's going to be an awesome story.**

**Now, the next couple of chapters are going to be very interesting. I'm not going to call it OddxAvery fluff, because it really isn't fluffy. But it is centered on them, and will be for a while.It's kind of angsty, but not too bad. I haven't forgot about Herb, all that is going to come later.**

**Now that I've blabbered on enough to bore anyone to tears, on with the story.**

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

After Ulrich leaves, I find myself once again bored to death. Looking at the clock, it's 7:43. Shrugging my shoulders, I get undressed and crawl into bed. Not much later, I hear Ulrich walk back in.

"Odd-" He begins to say, but stops when he sees the lights are off. I hear his footsteps quietly walk over to my bed, and I feign being asleep. I turn over slowly, showing him that my eyes are closed so he knows I'm asleep. After a second, I feel him gently pull my blanket back over top of me and exit the room. So I open my eyes again and lay there. I can't sleep, I haven't been able to for a while. It's not like I'm an insomniac, it's just that I don't fall asleep as easily as I used to.

After about half an hour or so, someone quietly opens the door again. I quickly shut my eyes again, not wanting to have to face anyone. As the person walks across the room, I realize it's not Ulrich. This person treads much quieter than he does, but they still sit on his bed. As they sit there, I realize they are most likely watching me, so I try to act more asleep. I slow down my breath and limit my body movement.

After about five or ten minutes of this, I begin to wonder who this is. It can't be Ulrich, he's about a subtle as a horse on pavement. And I can't think of any reason for Yumi, or Aelita, or even Jeremie to come see me. I nearly jolt in surprise as I feel their fingers slowly running through my hair, but I hold myself back. I hadn't even heard them walk over. They must be really good at stealth. Their hand is very soft and smooth, it feels very soothing. I really do jolt in surprise as I realize who it must be.

_Avery…._

She quickly pulls her hand away, probably afraid she had woken me. I just calmly turn a little bit more, facing her more directly, even though my eyes are still tightly closed. After a couple minutes, I feel the back of her fingers brush slightly across my right temple.

_What are you doing? What if you get caught in here? Ulrich will never let me live it down if he finds out!_

Half of me is enjoying the attention, half of me is wondering why she's in here, and the other half is wanting her to go so she doesn't get caught (A/N: Odd isn't that good at math, just check how many halves there were in that last sentence)

The biggest surprise of all came next. I felt Avery's lips gently connect with mine. No matter how much I wanted to pull her close to me and deepen the kiss, I refused to let myself do it. I couldn't control my eyes though, they snapped open as soon as she made contact. The first thing I saw was, of course, Avery. Her eyes were closed, luckily, so she didn't see me. She had her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, and she had on a light blue spaghetti-strap shirt. She slowly pulled away, so I had to close my eyes again. She stands up and smoothes out my blanket again. She lightly kisses the top of my head and exits. As soon as the door closes, I sit up in my bed and open my eyes again.

_Avery kissed me?_

_Well, it's not the first time she has…_

I remember the time when she came up to me during PE and pulled an Aelita maneuver. She wanted to check something… and she kissed me. Before I could say a thing, she ran off. This is beginning to drive me insane.

_Girls confuse me. One minute she's telling me she doesn't love me, the next she's kissing me while I'm asleep. Or while she thinks I am._

This is not something I can figure out on my own. I need some help. From someone who knows about this kind of stuff.

_Ulrich? Yah right, he would be as clueless as I am._

_Jeremie? Yah Odd, lets go ask the computer nerd about love problems._

_Aelita? She knows about girls almost as much as Jeremie does._

_Yumi…_.

I stand up and get dressed again. I open the door quietly and check to see if anyone is out in the halls.

_What the hell am I doing? It's like 8:00!_

I open the door the rest of the way and walk outside. I figure either Yumi is at her house, or in the park with Ulrich. I jog down the hallway, taking the stairs three at a time, landing with a screeching halt at the bottom. I quickly turn the corner and stop in my tracks. Avery is walking down the hall to her room, only about 15 feet in front of me. She stops and begins to turn around, so I dash back behind the corner. I stay there for a moment, catching my breath. I hear her softly padding towards me, and I prepare to run back upstairs if she came any closer.

"What am I doing? I must be imagining things." I hear her say, probably not five feet from where I am.

"I thought I heard footsteps, saw a flash of purple, and suddenly I think Odd was following me." She laughs quietly to herself.

"Come on Avery, get a grip. You just saw Odd upstairs asleep. He couldn't possibly…." She trails off, and I hear her walking back towards her room. After a couple seconds, I hear a door open and then close.

"Phew. That was too close." I jog down the hall, tiptoeing past Avery's door, and go outside.

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) 

"Odd-" I say, but stop when I see that the lights are off. Odd is lying on his bed, facing the wall underneath his blanket.

_Why would Odd be sleeping now? It's like 7:30!_

Odd rolls over, making his blanket shift slightly.

_His eyes are closed, he must be asleep. I don't get it, he's barely been sleeping lately but now he goes to sleep before 8:00!_

Smiling slightly, I walk over to him and replace his blanket back to its previous position.

Something is fishy here, but I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Sleep tight pal. You need it.

I walk outside and quietly close the door behind me. Realizing I now have nothing to do, I wander aimlessly through the halls and eventually end up near Avery's room. By strange coincidence, Avery walks out quietly just as I walk by. She's wearing a light blue spaghetti-strap shirt with dark blue shorts, obviously her night wear.

"Hey Ulrich, what are you doing here?" She asks nervously.

"Nothing, just wandering around. What're you doing?" I ask her.

"Uh… bathroom" She replies quickly, pointing down the hall. "Why aren't you in your room… or something?" She asks, trying to sound casual and failing miserably.

"Odd's in there, he's asleep." I reply, as if it was no big deal.

"I thought you said he wasn't sleeping much anymore."

"Well, I guess he's making up for it now."

"Oh, okay. See you later Ulrich." I smile.

"Okay," Avery turns and walks off. I notice she's not walking back towards her room, but for the stairs. "And Avery?" I add.

"Yah?" She asks, turning around.

"Try not to wake him up. He needs the sleep." Avery stares at me, but I just smile and walk outside.

* * *

**I'm not going to talk much here, I need to go to bed before my parents kill me. I'm just going to say this is going to be the beginning of a very interesting night. Trust me.**

**Quote Number (something I can't remember off the top of my head): I can slice through you faster than cheese launched from a trebuche through a hot chain link fence.**

**Number (whatever comes after the last one): In retrospect, Blue's Clues isn't very educational. It teaches kids to talk to inanimate object because they can and will talk back to you.**

**One of my favorite quotes: The brightest light casts the darkest shadow.**


	17. Advice

**I'm back again with another chapter of An Odd Love. And this time, it's only been five days since I updated.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Dr. D76567 because he gave a helpful review. It was more a flame than anything else (but still helpful).**

**So, now on with da story...**

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) 

After meeting Avery, I ended up in the woods. I headed for my favorite tree and quickly climbed up when I reached it. Much to my surprise, I find Yumi walking down the path. She reaches my tree and looks up, but I don't think she sees me. She looks sad, angry and frustrated all at the same time. She begins to climb up the tree, basically right underneath me. She looks up again to see another branch and I see tears in her eyes. She struggles at a part where even I have trouble, where the branch is high and you have to jump to reach it. I smile and lean over the edge of the branch, extending my hand.

"Need a hand?" I ask quietly. Her head snaps up and looks at me. She furiously wipes the tears from her eyes.

"Ulrich? What are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same question." I say and laugh. "Now come on, I'll give you a hand up." She grabs my hand and pulls herself up the same branch as me. I scoot over so there's enough room for both of us, but she quickly hugs me before I can get far.

"Thanks Ulrich." She says, pulling me closer to her.

"No problem." I say and put my arms around her shoulders.

"No, I mean for everything. Thanks." I smile at her as she looks at me. I use my thumbs to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

"You're welcome Yumi. And I will always be here for you. I promise."

"I love you Ulrich."

"I love you too Yumi." I lean down and gently kiss her on the cheek. I then hold her close until she finally regains control of her emotions.

"So, do you want to talk about it?" I ask her.

"Talk about what?"

"Why you're crying." I say with a small chuckle.

"It's just that… it's nothing."

"I don't think so. Do you know how many times I've seen you cry like this? Something is wrong."

"I…." She mumbles the rest.

"Come on now, talk so I can hear you." I say gently.

"I went home and everything seemed fine. Then I told my parents about Herb." She looks away from me.

"Okay."

"Well, they asked to know a little bit more about him. So I told them a little bit, but I don't think I really put him in a very good light. I basically said he was a little twerp who was jealous of Ulrich and followed Sissi around everywhere. I wish I hadn't said that now."

"Don't worry Yumi, it's okay to be sad for Herb. He shouldn't have died like that."

"I know. And I'm not. Well, yes I am, but that's not the main reason I was crying. My Dad made a little comment about maybe Herb killed himself. I told him Herb would never do that. My Mom took my side and they got into an argument."

"I see. So they ended up fighting over Herb?"

"Yah, they did. Finally, I had had enough. I told them that no matter how annoying Herb was, he would never kill himself. I basically blew up in their faces, told them I was sick of their fighting, and stomped out the door. But it was Hiroki's face that made it all the worse." And with that, she started crying quietly again.

"Hey hey, don't cry. You don't need to cry, it will be okay."

"H-Hiroki wasn't mad… he wasn't sad… he wasn't a-angry either. He looked disappointed in me. Like he had just lost his hero…" She throws her arms around me again and sobs into my shoulder.

"Don't worry Yumi. It will all be alright. I promise." I say, lightly stroking her hair. She stayed there for a while until the waterworks stopped. Then she let go just long enough to wipe her cheeks.

"Thanks Ulrich." She mumbles quietly.

"So why did you come here? To my tree?"

"I come here all the time, but usually you aren't in the tree. So why were you down here?"

"I couldn't sleep."

"So? You could have stayed in your room."

"Odd was sleeping."

"At 7:30?"

"Actually, I'm surprised he was sleeping. He hasn't been doing much of that lately."

"Really?"

"Yah, thanks to Avery."

"What did she do?"

"Absolutely nothing. But Odd is totally head over heels for her."

"Yah, I've seen. Does Avery know?"

"Yah, but if only Odd knew…." I punch myself over and over again mentally for saying that.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Forget I said anything."

"Oh no. You're not getting off the hook that easily. Tell me."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I promised Avery I wouldn't tell."

"Oh come on. These kinds of secrets are meant to be broken."

"Not this one. I promised Avery that I wouldn't tell Odd and I am not going to break a promise."

"Do I look like Odd to you?"

"What?"

"You promised you wouldn't tell Odd. Am I Odd?"

"No… but…."

"I will keep it confidential. It's okay, you can't get in trouble for exploiting a loophole."

"Okay. Avery confessed to me that she likes Odd. As in more than just friends."

"I knew it!"

"You have to promise not to tell! That means everyone, not just Odd."

"Oh, okay." Yumi says, though she sounds disappointed.

"I love loopholes. I feel so much better now that I'm not the only one who knows." I sigh and lean my head back, just as Yumi lays her head on my chest.

"Which do you love better, loopholes or me?" I grin.

"Hmm… such a hard decision…." Yumi playfully punches me on the arm.

"Ow. I guess I would have to say… you. By a long shot."

"Right answer." She says before leaning over and kissing me gently on the lips. I put my hand behind her head and pull her closer to deepen the kiss, just as I hear footsteps walking up. I break away reluctantly and look down.

"Yumi? Ulrich? Are either of you up there?" Odd says looking up.

"Yah Odd, we're up here. Both of us." Odd begins his climb and deftly swings onto a branch next to ours.

"Hey guys." He says, not looking either of us in the eyes.

"So, let me guess. You weren't really sleeping, were you?" I ask in a not too rough voice.

"No, I wasn't. But I didn't want you to worry about me, so I faked it."

"That's nice Odd, but you don't have to fake anything for us." Yumi says.

"Yah, I know. Look, I hope I wasn't interrupting anything…."

"Nah, nothing important." Yumi says quickly.

"I uh, kind of came here for advice."

"We'll try our best." Yumi says with a smile.

"Well uh…." Odd stutters, probably not knowing where to begin.

"Just start from the beginning." I say.

"Okay. At about 7:00, I went to bed, pretending to be asleep. Ulrich came in, thought I was asleep and left, no big deal. Then I laid there for about another half an hour."

"Keep going."

"Well, someone else came in. At first I didn't know who it was. They came in really quietly and sat down on Ulrich's bed. I knew it wasn't Ulrich because he can't be that quiet. Whoever came in was really stealthy."

"Well, at least now I learned something about Ulrich." Yumi says with a smile.

"After probably about… oh say ten minutes or so, the person walks over to my bed."

"Go on." I say, now interested.

"I'll skip the details, but they kissed me."

"Wait, she kissed you?" Yumi says disbelieving.

"Yah."

"Well, I sure hope it was a she." I say casually, bringing a small laugh out of Yumi.

"After that, she left."

"Did you get to look at her?"

"No." Odd says, but something in his face says different.

"Liar," I say quietly, "you got a good look at her. It was Avery, wasn't it?" Odd looks surprised, but then he nods his head. Yumi and I exchange knowing glances.

"I'm seriously confused. Avery said she didn't love me, but this is the second time she has kissed me."

"Second?" Yumi asks.

"One day during gym class." He replies shortly. "Can either of you shed some light? Does she love me or not? I want to believe her, that she doesn't, but too many things have happened for me to."

"Odd, I understand what you are going through. I wondered the same thing about Yumi for almost a year before I finally asked her out. Just give it some time."

"Ulrich, there's a key difference. I've already told Avery my feelings, and she rejected me. You have no idea what I'm going through."

"Yah, I guess you're right… but…." I can't find anything else to say that wouldn't expose the truth.

"Odd, just give it some time. Maybe Avery hasn't realized her feelings for you yet. Or maybe this is just some crush." Yumi adds. Odd sighs.

"Thanks for the help guys." He says and hops down off the branch, down to a lower one.

"Odd, wait!" I say, but he just keeps going.

"Hey Odd, come back!" Yumi says when he reaches the bottom. Odd looks up at us and sighs again. He gives us a forced smile that looks more like a grimace, and walks off. After about ten feet, I see him raise him arm to his face, most likely to wipe away tears, and then run off to where I can't see him.

"Oh boy, I have a feeling that we didn't help at all." I say with a sigh of my own.

"Ulrich, go follow him. I have a horrible feeling that he might want to do something bad to himself."

"You don't want me to walk you home?"

"I'll be fine. I think Odd needs you more than I do right now."

"I guess you're right." We climb down, helping each other along the way.

"Goodnight Yumi, I'll see you tomorrow." I say and give her a quick kiss.

"G'night Ulrich." She waves to me as I run off after Odd. Deciding the first place to start looking was obviously our room, I quickly dash up the stairs and stop at our room. I stop and brace myself for anything I might find and open the door.

"Odd?" I walk inside and look around.

To my relief, Odd is in his bed, safe and sound. His eyes are closed, but he still had tears running down his cheeks. I take my shoes off, quietly walk over to my bed and sit down.

"Odd, if you're awake," I say quietly, "please talk to me. I only want to help." Odd rolls over so he's facing the wall. Whether consciously or not, I don't know. But I think he might be faking it again.

I quietly get undressed and crawl into bed. Before laying down I look back over at Odd.

"If you need to talk, I'm willing to listen." I say before lying my head down and going straight to sleep.

* * *

**Yay, another chapter gone. Don't worry, Odd isn't going to commit suicide. I wouldn't do that to Odd.**

**Anyways, here's a quote:**

**385: Proverbs 21:19 (this is a real scripture in the bible): It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and angry woman.**


	18. Nightmares

**Okay, this has to be one of the saddest things I've ever written.**

**I just wanted you guys to know that Odd isn't having a good sleep at night. Either he doesn't sleep, or he has a nightmare like the one described in this chapter. I'm not quite sure why i'm explaining it to you... but then again i'm not giving away much.**

**Just so you know, it's a nightmare. Nightmares usually don't make much sense. Don't expect this to.**

**So anyways now, on to the story.**

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

_I found myself sitting in a pew, near the front of a chapel. It is a nice chapel, lavishly decorated for the wedding to come. Or well, I think it's a wedding. There's a couple guys in tuxes standing near the front, and quite a few ladies in dresses opposite them. A pastor was standing center, with a table behind him, and he's holding an open book. Suddenly, everyone turns to look at a small girl walking up the isle. She has a basket of flowers and is spreading them liberally on the isle between the pews. _

_Suddenly, the organist starts playing the wedding march, and a guy near the front visibly stiffens. He's in a really expensive tuxedo, he must be the groom. I look along the row of best men and I see Jeremie in a tux. Yumi and Aelita are standing with the women in beautiful dresses. The doors at the back of the chapel open and a woman walks forth holding the arm of Ulrich. My eyes open wide as I see the bride._

_"Avery…." I whisper to myself. The person next to me shushes me and I give them a dirty look. Avery reaches the front and stands next to the groom, whom I don't recognize._

_"We are gathered here today to celebrate the bonding of this couple." The pastor says. "Before we begin, I would like to ask if anyone has any objection to this couple being wed." He says, and I find myself standing._

_"Avery!" Everyone turns to stare at me._

_"Odd, sit back down!" Someone next to me hisses. It's Sissi._

_"Avery, who is this guy?" I yell. Avery turns and looks at me confused._

_"Who are you?" She asks forcefully._

_"Avery! It's me, Odd!" Avery shakes her head, as if she doesn't understand._

_"I've never met you before."_

_"Odd, sit back down." Ulrich says, turning to glare at me._

_"Yah Odd, you had your chance." Aelita says loudly._

_"Ulrich, Aelita? You know this guy?" Avery asks._

_"He used to be our friend." Yumi pipes up angrily._

_"But he turned into a jerk and fell for every girl he met." Jeremie says, also glaring at me._

_"Don't you remember Avery? You used to know him too." The groom says. Avery seems to realize who I am and I smile despite myself. Avery then turns back to me and glares._

_"You! I remember you now! You were that jerk who said he loved me within a week of meeting me! And I hated you!" My face blanches, my legs start shaking like mad._

_"Go away Odd, I never want to see you again!" She yells at me, her face horribly distorted. I run over to her quickly and grab her arm._

_"Avery, you've got to come with me, this is all horribly wrong!" I say quickly and pull her wrist. I hear a crack and turn around to see Avery on the ground cradling her arm._

_"Ah! My wrist! He broke my wrist!" She begins yelling. Everyone starts running towards me with angry looks on their faces._

_"But I didn't mean to!" Before anyone could get to me, Avery stands up, furious._

_"You ruined my wedding day!" She yells. She slaps me hard across the face and everything goes black.

* * *

I sit up quickly in bed and in a cold sweat. I find myself back in my room, safe and sound. My clock says 2:58, and Ulrich is asleep in his bed. I remember the events that had transpired earlier and find myself shaking. _

_It's okay Odd, it was just another nightmare… just another nightmare…_

I rise from my bed to find myself fully clothed. In my hurry to fake sleeping before Ulrich got back, I forgot to change. Even though I got maybe three hours of sleep, I'm not tired.

Or maybe I just don't want another nightmare... no! I'm just not tired… that's all.

I stand up and walk to the door, but stop to look back at Ulrich.

"Thanks for the offer," I say really quietly, "But no. I don't feel like talking about it."

I walk outside and down the hall. As soon as I reach the bottom floor, I walk around the corner and see Jim escorting some girl I don't recognize back into her room.

"Now I want you to stay there, no more wandering around after hours." He says as the girl closes the door. Then of course, he turns to see me standing there stupidly.

"Not another one! Della Robbia! What are you doing out after hours!"

"Uh, uh, uh…" I say but I can't think of a good excuse. "What are you doing up Jim?"

"I was just escorting Miss Jones here back to her room because she was out after hours. She got an hour of detention after school for a week and I think that's a fine punishment for you too." He says walking towards me.

"But uh, I was just getting a drink!" I say, seeing the nearby drinking fountain.

"Well, why didn't you go to the one on your level?"

"Because uh, it's broken." I lie quickly.

"Well, hurry up, get your drink and go back to bed." I quickly walk over to the fountain and take a long drink. As I walk back up the stairs, Jim follows me.

"What are you doing Jim?"

"I'm going to make sure you go to bed. And stay there." He says. I roll my eyes and continue upstairs. I walk upstairs and quickly back to my dorm.

"Della Robbia!" I grimace and turn around.

"Yes Jim?" I ask innocently.

"Does this look broken to you?" He's running the fountain and it's working perfectly.

"It was broken when I tried to use it!" I say defensively, but I know I'm not getting far.

"Yah right. Now go to bed," I open the door and walk inside, "and that's another hour of detention for lying to me!" He says. I slam the door shut and plop down on my bed. I lean my head back against the wall and close my eyes. I know sleep won't come, but I can try.

"Odd! What's all the ruckus? It's three in the morning!" Ulrich says sleepily. I roll my eyes underneath my eyelids before opening them.

"Nothing Ulrich, go back to sleep." I say with a sigh. Ulrich gives me a glare but lays back down and goes to sleep anyway. I give an involuntary shudder.

That glare was exactly the same on in my nightmare… 

Knowing I can't go back outside, and I can't sleep anyway I settle in for a long wait. Students are allowed back out of their dorms at 5:30.

* * *

**Have you ever heard the phrase, it's always the worst before it gets better? That definitely applies to this. But it isn't at it's worst yet.**

**I'm going to shut up now before I give away any more of the plot.**

**435. Footprints in the sand of time are not made by sitting around.**

**429. My imaginary friend thinks I have mental problems, and my real friends know I do.**


	19. Friend vs Friends

**Okay, he's another chapter of An Odd Love. I never before realized how appropriate the title was before now.**

**Before I forget, this chapter is deicated to a friend of mine who I call Angelle.**

**Thanks to her! **

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

As soon as the clock hits 5:30, I'm out of the room. I even grabbed my old watch that I hadn't used in two years so if Jim asked me I could show him what time it was. I quickly left and took a long, drawn out shower. One of the few things I've managed to enjoy in the last couple of days is a shower. The feeling of hot water running down my face and neck is extremely relaxing.

I walked back to my room to change. While putting on a warm purple jacket, I accidentally knocked over a book that was sitting on the desk, and it clatters to the floor. I look over quickly to see Ulrich stir and open his eyes. I quickly pull on my jacket, replace the book, and head for the door.

"Hey Odd, where are you going?" I freeze with my hand on the doorknob and slowly turn around. Ulrich is sitting up in bed, looking extremely tired and disoriented.

"Nowhere Ulrich." I open the door and walk outside, but I feel Ulrich's hand on my shoulder. How he managed to get from his bed to the door that fast, and that quietly, I will never know.

"Just tell me where you're going."

"I'm not going anywhere. Now let go of me."

"Not until you tell me. Are you going to go see Avery? That would probably be a smart thing to do." I turn around and face him.

"No, I'm not." I pull my shoulder out of his grasp and back away. Before I can leave, he grabs my left wrist. My annoyance is beginning to cloud my thoughts and it's getting harder to think straight.

"Let go of me Ulrich."

"Tell me first. I'm only concerned about you."

"Last warning. Let go of me now."

"No." Okay, final straw. I warned him. I try to pull my wrist out of his grasp, but he's too strong for me. Still not thinking clearly, but still knowing I will regret it, I pull back and hit Ulrich in the face. He staggers back, clearly surprised, and lets go of my wrist.

I quickly take off running, down the hall and downstairs.

* * *

I run out of the dorm building and into the forest. I'm not sure where I'm going, but I slow down to a walk. After about 15 minutes of wandering, I sit down and lay against a tree on the edge of the path. After about 15 more minutes, I hear someone call my name. 

"Odd! Odd are you here?" It sounds like it might be Yumi. And she's not far off.

"Hello? Odd? Can you hear me?" This is Ulrich, I know it.

"Odd!" That's Aelita. "Odd, come out! We need to talk to you!" That's Jeremie. It sounds like Ulrich is the closest to me, not very far away, so I stand up and begin walking.

Believe it or not, having them call for me is making it harder for them to find me. Since they're all making loud noises, I know where they are and can avoid them. I did have a close shave with Jeremie, but he probably thought he was hallucinating. I walk closer to the school and hear a branch snap not ten feet in front of me and around a bend. I quickly dive into the nearby bushes, just in time. I quickly turn around to see Avery walk past, looking confused. Ulrich walks up and sees Avery. I quickly and quietly adjust my position so I have a vantage point from which to see clearly.

"Ulrich?" Avery asks. "What's going on?"

"We're trying to find Odd."

"What happened?"

"Earlier, Odd and I had a fight. He wanted to leave, I asked where he was going."

"What did he say?"

"He wouldn't tell me. When he went to leave, I stopped him. He hit me and ran off." From where I am, I can't see Avery's face, but I'm sure her eyes are as big as dinner plates.

"He hit you?"

"Yah. Now we're trying to find him."

"Have you considered a possibility of a Xana attack?"

"Yah," Ulrich sighs, "I had Jeremie check before he came. All clear, Xana's still asleep. Can you help us look?"

"Of course. But I think if Odd doesn't want to be found, he won't be."

"It doesn't hurt to try." Ulrich yells over his shoulder as he runs off to check some other part of the woods.

"Odd! Odd it's me Avery!" Avery yells out. "Come out Odd, please?" I'm sorely tempted to run out, but that wouldn't be smart. Avery walks around a little bit, not straying very far from the school. After about five minutes she pulls out her phone.

_Who's she calling?_

I hear her dial a couple numbers and she puts the phone up to her ear. About half a second later, my phone starts ringing out a song called "Faint" by Linkin Park.

_That's the ring for an unknown caller…._

I reach into my pocket and freeze. Avery whips around and looks straight towards I am.

_She called my phone!_

I quickly turn my phone off, but not before Avery begins walking over to where I am.

"Shit!" I yell, jumping up. I quickly take off running, away from Avery, crashing through the bushes like a madman.

After a couple minutes, I stop and catch my breath. Someone is still following me, but they've fallen behind. Knowing that I can outrun them, I walk calmly until I get back to the path. Following the path, I figure out where I am and from there where I can go. I decide to head for Ulrich's tree, it's fairly far from here. By now Avery would have told them that she saw me and they're scouring the forest by where I was for me. I make it to Ulrich's tree and go up as far as I can, while still being safe. Deciding I didn't really care, I go up a little farther and sit down. After about fifteen minutes, I hear footsteps below me.

_No way… they can not have followed me here…_

I look down and see Avery walk underneath the tree.

"Odd? Are you up there?" She yells, looking up. I move to the other side where I can't see her and she can't see me. Suddenly, I get an idea. I'm going to use her own trick against her.

_Her phone…_

I pull out my phone and turn it on. It beeps loudly once and I cringe. I disable all sounds before opening up a message to the last caller.

**Do you really think I'm that predictable?**

I send it to her and hear her phone beep down below. I peek around the tree, I see her pulling out her phone and reading the message. Her keypad beeps as she puts in a reply.

**What do you mean?**

**Why would I head for Ulrich's tree? That's the first place anyone would look**

**I followed you here**

**How can that be when I'm not there?**

**Your footprints lead right up to the tree**

**I planted them there**

It's a couple seconds longer before she replies again.

**Where are you Odd?**

I'm beginning to get annoyed again.

**Go to breakfast, stop looking for me**

**Not until you tell me where you are**

**Why would I tell you that?**

Because you said you loved me 

I decide it's better not to answer. After a couple minutes, another message comes.

**Please Odd?**

**I'm not going to tell you, stop asking**

Avery just sits against the tree, I watch as her phone drops limply from her hand. I decide to send Ulrich a message.

**Avery is by your favorite tree, I watched her go by there a couple minutes ago she hasn't come out yet, you might want to go get her she could be hurt**

After a couple minutes, Ulrich replies.

**Where are you Odd?**

**I'm not going to tell you so you might as well not ask**

**Odd I'm sorry**

I stare at this one for a couple minutes before responding.

**I'm not going to get her, so you had better hurry up**

**I'm on my way**

After a couple of minutes, I get another test message from Avery, just one word.

**Please**

I type in one last message and shut my phone off.

**Sorry**

About two or three minutes later, Ulrich comes running in. He must have been running at full speed the whole way to make it here that fast.

"Avery! Where are you?" He spots her and runs over. He quickly talks to Avery which I can't hear, but Avery responds only by shaking or nodding her head. Eventually, he helps her stand up, puts his arm around her shoulders comfortingly, and they walk off. I settle myself in for a long wait, not hungry for breakfast.

* * *

**Ooh, I always wanted to do that. I always thought Avery would be smart enough to use Odd's phone against him.**

**Bwahahaha**

**Quote 447. "Heads you die, tails we flip again."**

**437. If a person with multiple personalitites threatens to commit suicide, is it a hostage situation?**

**447. Let's flip a coin: Heads you die, tails we flip again.**

**448. If it takes more muscles to frown than to smile, then my face is way stronger than yours! **


	20. Secret Partially Revealed

**restraining myself from blabbing on and on and on and on and on and on... any ways, here's another chapter...**

* * *

(Avery P.O.V.) 

I couldn't stop. They just kept coming and I couldn't stop them. Not even when I saw Ulrich running up to me.

"Avery, what happened?" I just kept crying, hot tears rolling down my face. I'm not even sure why I'm crying. Ulrich kneels next to me, waiting for an answer. When I don't give him one, he asks again.

"What happened between you and Odd? Did he hurt you?"

"H-he… I…." I stutter, but I can't talk because I'm crying to hard. Ulrich seems to understand this.

"I'm going to ask you some questions, just shake your head yes or no. Okay?" I nod my head.

"Did he hurt you?" I shake my head.

"Did you talk to him?" Nod.

"Did he tell you where he was?" Shake.

"Are you crying because of him?" I nod, then shake my head, and then nod again.

"You don't know why you're crying?" Shake.

"Can you calm down enough to tell me what happened?" I shake my head and pull out my phone. I open up a special messenger program that shows all my recent text messages and hand it to him. He takes it from me and begins to read. After a minute, he hands it back.

"Come on Avery, let's go to breakfast." He says and helps me stand up. He puts his arm around my shoulders to steady me. With his other arm, he pulls out his cell phone and presses speed dial 2.

"Hey Yumi." He says into the phone as we start walking. I've finally managed to get control of my emotions and the tears are beginning to stop.

"Yah, I have Avery with me… she had a text message conversation with Odd." I can hear Yumi's voice from here: 'Really? What did he say?'

"Let's just say Avery isn't better from it, and Odd doesn't want to be found. Can you call Jeremie and Aelita, and tell them to meet us in the cafeteria for breakfast?"

"Thanks Yumi." Ulrich puts his cell phone away and we begin walking towards the cafeteria. When we get there, everyone else is already there and waiting for us. They have their food, but nobody's really eating.

"Do you want me to get some food for you?" I could probably talk now if I wanted too, but I really don't want to. So I shake my head again.

"Are you sure?" I nod my head, and walk over to our normal table. I sit down and immediately lay my head on my arms, eyes closed.

"Avery? Are you okay?" Yumi asks, moving over and sitting next to me. I don't respond. "Ave, it's okay. We'll figure this out, we'll fix this mess," she continues, but I still make no response.

She seems to give up, and returns to eating her food. Jeremie and Aelita are silent as well. When Ulrich returns, he sets his plate down with a clatter, sits down, and begins to eat quietly. I slight creak in the bench probably means Yumi is leaning over next to Ulrich.

"Ulrich," She says quietly, but I can still barely hear her, "What happened?"

"She wouldn't tell me," He replies quietly as well. One of these days, I have got to teach these friends of mine to speak quieter, "but she let me read her messages."

"What did they say?" I crack one eye open to see Jeremie, Aelita, and Yumi leaning towards Ulrich so they can hear him.

"He basically just told her he wasn't where she thought he was. After that, she made a comment she probably shouldn't have." Not wanting to hear another word, I abruptly stand up and walk away. I walk back to my room rather quickly, I noticed Yumi was following me. I reach my room and plop down on my bed, waiting for Yumi to knock on the door.

"3…2…1…" Knock knock knock. "Bingo." I sit up and run my hand through my hair. "Come in!" I say loudly so she can hear me.

"Ave?" Yumi asks, poking her head through the door.

"Come on in Yumi…." I say, leaning against the wall. She walks in slowly and shuts the door.

"Ave, are you going to be okay?" I sigh.

"I'll be fine Yumi. I always bounce back. Just like…" I stop myself before I go any farther.

"Just like what?" She asks gently, sitting down on my bed next to me.

"Nothing. Forget I said anything." I say, turning away.

"Hey, you can tell me anything. I'm your cousin, even though we may not look it. And that means I can keep a secret. Just like Ulrich did." I quickly flip my head around, turning to face her.

"Say what?" I practically yell.

"Uh… oops." She says, blushing.

"Ulrich told you, didn't he?" She nods her head. "That's the last time I trust Ulrich with a secret. So I guess the word is out, and everybody knows now."

"No. Only you, me and Ulrich know about it. And no one else is going to know until you tell them. And go easy on Ulrich, I wormed the information out of him."

"How did you do that?"

"I'm his girlfriend, how do you think I did it?"

"Good point."

"So, why are you still keeping it a secret? And what about the other thing, it was just like what?"

"It's amazing that both of those questions have the same answer."

"Care to share it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"This has happened to you before, hasn't it?" I stare at her.

"How did you know that?"

"I didn't, lucky guess. But now I know I was right." I sigh and look up at the ceiling.

"This has happened to me before. Not the exact same, but similar."

"Any details you would like to share?"

"Not really. I guess a lot has happened to me since we last saw each other, huh?"

"Yah, a lot more than me."

"I don't know, this whole virtual universe thing is pretty big." She smiles at me.

"I guess it is, isn't it? Come on, just tell me a little bit."

"No."

"Please Avery?"

"No."

"Ave, please. I'm your cousin. If anyone will understand, it will be me." I sigh.

"I'll tell you a little bit… but most of this I won't tell right now. I don't think I could handle it. Too many memories."

"Anything is better than nothing."

"There was a boy in my other school who went by X. It was every girls dream to date him, even though he was a tyrant, and everyone else feared him. This whole time, I stayed out of it. I kept to myself and avoided him like everyone else. One day, I accidentally had a head on collision with him in the hallway."

"I thought I was done for, that the only thing they would find of me could fit in a matchbox. Strangely enough, he helped me up and set me on my way, not another word. A couple days later, he walked up to me and asked me to be his girlfriend. I accepted, of course. Becoming Xander's girlfriend was like becoming the queen of the school, no one dared to say no to him. Let's just say I didn't like our relationship much." I pause.

"I understand." My cousin urges me on. "Keep going."

"By the end of it, he was getting rough and ruthless and I wanted out. But I couldn't he wouldn't let me. Eventually, I slapped him, told him we were through and walked off. About a month or so ago, something… horrible happened. Then without much warning, my dad sent me here. I was never more grateful to move." Yumi became very somber, and I knew she was trying desperately to figure out what happened to me. We sit in silence for a couple minutes, neither of us knowing what to say next. Eventually, Yumi glances at my alarm clock. It's 7:26, class is going to start soon.

"Come on Ave, let's go to class." I shake my head, not trusting my voice. Yumi stands up and look back at me.

"Are you coming?" I shake my head again.

"I-I think I'm going to call it in sick today." Yumi nods, understanding. She gives me a quick hug.

"I have my phone if you need me, but I hope you don't." She says, walking towards the door.

"Thanks Yumi. You have to run if you're going to make it."

"Okay, bye Ave."

"Bye Yumi." Yumi runs out, closing the door behind her. I lie down on my bed, and pick up my phone. I call the nurse, saying I don't feel very good. She agrees to let me stay here as long as I call back at lunch to see if I'm feeling any better. I wasn't fibbing, I do feel sick to my stomach. I try to sleep for a while, but I can't do it. I can't stop thinking about Odd…

After about half an hour, I can't stand it anymore. I can't sleep, I'm not hungry. I tried listening to music on my laptop again, but it just made me think of Odd. Fed up with my room, I get up and go outside for some fresh air. After about five minutes of wandering, I find myself standing in front of Odd and Ulrich's room.

_Stupid subconscious. Why did you have to bring me here?_

I grab the doorknob and twist, and surprisingly enough, the door opens. I walk inside, but there's nobody there. I've only been in here once before, last night. But I wasn't really supposed to be. I sit on Odd's bed and I suddenly feel better. I know I really shouldn't be in here, but I can't help it. I just felt at home here. I lie down, putting my head on Odd's spotlessly white pillow. Immediately, I get wafted in a fragrance unlike any I've ever smelled before. But then again, I realize I have. It's Odd's scent, it just smells like him. I've been near him enough times that I would know. The smell is heavenly, I feel myself loosing consciousness within it. Before I know it, I'm asleep in Odd's bed.

* * *

**Kind of creepy, I know... but she's feeling sick and delirious.**

**They say it's always darkest before dawn... well right now, this story is about at 11:30 PM. Almost midnight, the worst part of the story.**

**must shut up before I tell rest of story**

**so, see you later**

**Peace out **


	21. Claustrophobia

(Odd P.O.V.)

I have to time this just perfectly. If I go too early, they will try to sit next to me and talk to me. If I get there too late, I'll be in trouble. At five minutes before the bell is supposed to ring, I drop down to the bottom of the tree and begin running. The only reason I'm going to class is because I know I will be far worse off if I don't go then if I do. At three minutes before the bell rings, I enter the school grounds and start sprinting. Just before the bell rings, I enter the classroom and shut the door.

"Della-Robbia, you're late again!"

"Sorry Mr. Johnson."

"Well, go take a seat, we have a lot of material to cover today." I walk over quickly to the only open seat. Unfortunately, it's right next to Jeremie and behind Ulrich. Aelita is sitting next to Ulrich. I plop down and look away from Jeremie.

"Now class, we have a quick warm up today and then about three pages worth of notes to take…" Mr. Johnson begins to drone on and on until we get to the notes, when I realize my bag is still in my room. I hadn't really expected to be hiding from my best friends all morning. I raise my hand and wait patiently for about four minutes until Mr. Johnson realizes I have my hand up.

"Yes Odd, do you have a question?"

"Uh, yes. I accidentally left my bag in my room this morning when I rushed out. Can I go get it?"

"I'm sure Jeremie would be happy to loan you the necessary materials, right Jeremie?"

"Of course sir." Jeremie says. I look over to see him reach into his backpack and grab a notebook and pencil. He scribbles something on it and slides it over to me. I look at what he wrote, and my annoyance immediately triples.

**Why Odd?**

I scribble back my response:

**I don't want to talk about it**

**Why not**

**Cause I don't**

I copy down some of the notes, but I don't really want to do this. After a while, I begin to feel sick to my stomach, seriously not feeling good. I write down a couple more notes from the teacher, but I can't understand a word he's saying. I put my head down on the desk to try and shake the feeling, but it steadily gets worse. About halfway through the class, I can't take it anymore.

"Sir, can I go to the infirmary?" I ask, standing up and raising my hand. Mr. Johnson eyes me, trying to determine if I'm really sick or not. 

"You do look a little pale… I guess you can go. But you need to copy down these notes from someone later."

"Yes sir." I quickly stand up and walk out of the room. I don't intend to go to the infirmary, but I do feel sick. I head for my room, hoping that I will wake up before school gets over and I can go somewhere else. I get to my room, open the door, and stagger inside. I look over at my bed and jump in surprise. Avery is fast asleep on my bed, her head buried in my pillow, a content smile plastered on her face.

I immediately forget the pain in my stomach, at least for the moment. I quietly walk over and kneel next to my own bed.

"Avery…" I breathe softly. I find myself gently running my fingers through her hair… just like she had done to me. She reaches up and grabs my hand subconsciously, and I freeze. I realize what I had done, and how close I had come to kissing her.

_I don't want to be like her… no… I don't!_

I pull my hand away, out of her grasp, and her smiles fades away. I take my blanket and cover her up with it carefully. I back away and sit down heavily on Ulrich's bed. The pain in my stomach slowly comes back. I find myself slowly laying down on Ulrich's bed and the pain subsides. Before I can help it my body is drifting into sleep and my mind goes blissfully blank.

* * *

I wake up clutching my stomach. The pain is immense, I have to go somewhere, I have to get up. I force myself to my feet and I stumble to the door. I lose control and hit the door hard, slowly sliding to the floor. My stomach pain is beginning to become unbearable, I turn around to see Avery rise from my bed. 

"Odd?" Black spots are forming in front of my eyes and it's getting harder to see clearly. Sweat is beginning to form on my face and it feels like it's 900 degrees in here. But even through all this, I still feel a burning desire to get away.

"Odd! What's wrong?" Avery jumps up and runs over to me. She puts her hand on my forehead… it's such a nice sensation… a relief from the burn. But I shake myself away and pull myself back to my feet.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong. I have to go now…." I say, turning and reaching for the knob. Avery grabs my hand and prevents me from turning it.

"Odd, you're burning up. I have to get you to a doctor." She leads me over to my bed and sits me down. She pulls out her cell phone and dials a few numbers, putting it to her ear.

"Ulrich, its Avery. I have Odd here, but something's wrong with him. It looks like he's sick." She listens for a couple seconds.

"Yah, I'm in your room. Please hurry."

_No… not Ulrich… not him…._

She turns around and takes her phone away from her ear so she can dial some more numbers. I quickly stand up and walk quietly for the door. I open it and dash outside, despite the pain.

"Odd!" She yells, and begins to chase me. I can't explain why, but while I'm running, I can think clearly again. Maybe running is forcing the blood to flow to my brain or something, but I have only one thought in my head.

_Get away… get away…_

I dash out of the school grounds and into the forest, Avery still trailing me.

_I have to find some way to get rid of her…_

I remember one of the few things Avery has told me about her. She has claustrophobia.

_There's a cave nearby somewhere, I remember seeing it before…_

I run harder, and Avery is starting to fall behind. But unfortunately all the pain is sapping my strength. I can't go on much farther.

* * *

(Avery P.O.V.) 

I slow my pace a little bit, trying to conserve energy. I'm not in the best clothes for running, and it's showing. My cell phone is still clutched tightly in my hand. Odd must be headed for somewhere, it could be where he was before. When Odd rounds a bend, I stop and walk to the corner. I peek around the edge. Odd looks back and I duck. He slows his pace down to a fast walk.

_He thinks I'm out of energy…._

I dash out, as quickly and quietly as possible, towards Odd. When I get to about ten feet from him, he notices me and begins to run furiously, but I have momentum already built up. I catch him and grab his shoulder.

"Odd stop! You're sick, I have to get you to the infirmary!" He spins around pain obvious in his face. His eyes seem to be almost devoid of any emotion, except for despair. And anger. He's furious that I caught him.

"L-let go!" He yells, trying to get out of my grasp.

"Odd please." I say calmly, but he doesn't respond with words. I think he's delirious with pain. He does an unexpected move which makes me let go of him, something I never thought someone like Odd would do. He hit me.

I fall back onto my back and he takes off running again. I rub my cheek where he hit me, but get back up again. I keep running, but eventually he runs into an open clearing.

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry… 

It kept repeating through my head, like a broken record. I still don't know why I'm running from her, but my body refuses to stop. I didn't want to hit her, I tried to stop myself. But instinct took over, when she stopped me I lashed out at her.

Finally, I see my target. There's a cave in the nearby hillside, there's actually a couple of them. I head for the farthest right one, which appears to be the smallest, but it isn't. I've explored these caves on multiple occasions, and this one just has a small opening. It actually has the largest inside chamber, reaching up about ten feet. I dash over and dive inside, rolling for a couple feet and then stopping.

"Odd! Please come out, I just want to help." She calls to me. I get back to my feet and lean against the cave wall. My legs won't support me, so I slide down slowly until I'm resting on the bottom.

"Odd please."

"D-don't waste your time Avery. I know you have claustrophobia. This is the smallest cave, if you came in you would be scared to death." I say, ruthlessly.

* * *

(Avery P.O.V) 

When I saw where he was headed, I groaned inwardly.

_Why does it have to be a cave…?_

He dives into the cave and I hear him roll. I stop just outside the cave and assess my situation.

_I'm all alone. I have claustrophobia. Odd is sick. He's hiding in a cave that I know I wouldn't last two minutes in before I pass out from hyperventilation. I have to get him to come out by himself._

"Odd! Please come out, I just want to help." I call loudly. I hear scuffling inside, but he doesn't respond.

"Odd please." I ask a second time.

"D-don't waste your time Avery. I know you have claustrophobia. This is the smallest cave, if you came in you would be scared to death."

_He led me here on purpose!_

"Odd, you'll have to come out of there sometime."

"No I won't. I can stay here a lot longer than you can."

"You have to eat, and you skipped breakfast."

"I've also skipped last night's dinner, yesterday's lunch and breakfast, but I'm still not hungry."

"Say what? Odd, you have got to get something to eat!"

"I said, I'm not hungry." I sink down against the outside of the wall. I hear Odd coughing, and it doesn't stop.

"Odd?" I ask when it finally does, "Are you okay?"

"I'm… fine." He says hoarsely.

"Odd, please come out. I won't be mad at you."

"Everyone else will."

"No they won't."

"Why not?"

"Because I won't let them." Odd starts coughing again. This time, it goes on for about a full minute.

"Odd, please come out." He doesn't respond. "Odd?" I hear retching noises coming from inside.

"Odd!" I yell, "Answer me!" Everything goes dead silent.

"Odd are you okay?" No answer. "Odd answer me!" Still no answer.

_Oh god no…_

I must have kept yelling at Odd for another two or three minutes before I realize he wasn't going to answer.

_I have to go in… to save him…_

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, running my hand through my hair. I quickly crouch down and crawl inside the cave. Once I get inside, I refuse to look up, because I know that would make it worse. I can feel myself starting to hyperventilate already.

_I'm not going to get out…! I'm going to get stuck here, I'm going to die stuck inside a cave!_

_No! I will not! I have to save Odd!_

My eyes adjust to the darkness and I see Odd lying face down near a wall. I quickly grab him and drag his body outside of the abyss, back into the bright sunlight. I sit down and look up, taking in the warmth and freshness of the sky, the big open spaces. I'm starting to breathe less, my breathing is going back to normal.

_I hate caves._

I quickly crawl over to Odd to see he isn't looking well. He's extremely pale, his skin is hot to the touch. I pull my cell phone out of my pocket and dial Ulrich's number.

"Avery?"

"Ulrich, I need help."

"Avery where are you! I came to my room, but there was no one there, and the door was wide open!"

"Odd ran out on me, I chased him into the woods. He's unconscious now, he's really sick."

"Where are you?"

"I don't know exactly, but we're near some caves."

"I know where that is, I'll be there in a second." He hangs up and I do too. I try to lift Odd's body, but I can't. I'm too exhausted from the run here. In about five minutes, Ulrich comes sprinting into the clearing.

"Ulrich! Over here!" He runs over and drops down to examine Odd.

"This isn't good, we need to get him to a hospital." He picks Odd up and puts him on his shoulder. Now unable to run, he begins to walk quickly back towards the school. I drag myself up off the ground to follow him.

* * *

**This is the end of the angsty parts of the story, now it's going to start getting better. Less angst, more fluff. I think that's what most of my loyal reviewers wanted anyway.**

**Thanks to the reviewer who mentioned I forgot the quotes in the last chapter. I apologize for that, and also for the fact that I don't have any on this one. My list of quotes has decided to go missing. I'll find it eventually. **


	22. Hospitalized

**Mua ha ha, fast update this time. This time, it's only been two days since I updated.**

**Just a note, I have no idea what happens in a hospital. I've never been a patient in one. So I just basically took my best guess on what goes on.**

* * *

(Avery P.O.V.) 

When the ambulance gets here, they quickly load Odd in on a stretcher. He's still unconscious, hasn't moved since he passed out. When Odd is loaded, I get move to get in with him, but one of the paramedics hold me back.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going with him."

"What's your relation to him?"

"I'm uh… his girlfriend." I say, telling a white lie. He looks at me for a moment, trying to figure out if I'm telling the truth.

"Okay, you can go." I quickly climb inside and he closes the door. The ambulance takes

towards the hospital, siren blaring. I look at the paramedic inside with me.

"Do you know what's wrong with him?" I ask him.

"Not exactly. It's hard to tell with the limited resources I have here. But do you know when his last meal was?"

"Uh… I'm not sure." We're both silent until we get to the hospital. They quickly take him inside and tell me to wait in the waiting room. I hate hospitals, they always remind me of sickness, death and pain. I sat there for about half an hour before Ulrich showed up.

"How's it going?"

"No word yet."

"How are you doing?" I sigh.

"I don't know. It feels like my heart is slowly being ripped to shreds." He sits down in a chair next to me.

"Don't worry, they'll take care of him." I lean my head on his shoulder.

"I hope so." In about ten minutes, Aelita and Jeremie walk in along with Mr. Delmas.

"Has there been any word?" Mr. Delmas asks. I don't respond, not trusting my voice. So, Ulrich responds for me.

"Not a thing." We only have to wait for about another minute before a doctor walks in.

"Are you here for Odd Della Robbia?"

"We are." Mr. Delmas replies.

"Well, he's stable now. He had a bad case of malnourishment. It looks like he hasn't eaten a solid meal for more than a week. Because of that, his immune system stopped functioning properly. He had a bad fever, which broke fairly quickly. You can go see him if you wish."

"Thank you sir." Ulrich helps me up and smiles.

"Are you Mr. Delmas? The principal?"

"I am."

"I have some things I need to discuss with you, if you would please come into my office."

"Of course."

"Odd is in room number 314." He says to us.

"Okay." I reply croakily. We walk over to the map of the hospital. Odd is two floors above, on the right. We all walk in silence to the elevator and go up two stories. We find Odd's room and open the door. Odd is sleeping on a clean hospital bed, a few needles and tubes sticking into him. There's a nurse standing there.

"Are you here to see him?" We all nod.

"Okay. Try not to wake him, he needs to sleep." She walks out of the room and closes the door, leaving us alone. I walk over first, sitting on the chair next to his bed. I grab his hand and hold it in mine, being careful of the needles.

"Hey Odd…" I say quietly.

"We'll leave you two alone." Ulrich says. I was about to stop them, but they already left. As soon as the door closes, I break out in tears. I put my forehead against the side of his bed and just cry into my arms.

_I almost lost him again… but this time it was my fault…_

I look up, but I can't see a thing. Tears are clouding my vision. I don't even know why I'm crying. Odd is fine, he will be out of the hospital soon. So why can't I stop? After a couple minutes, Ulrich walks back in. Not saying anything, he pulls up a chair next to me.

"Avery…" I look up to the ceiling and laugh to myself. A pitiful laugh.

"I must seem so stupid to you Ulrich. Odd's perfectly fine. Well, not perfectly fine, but he's going to live, he's going to be okay. And yet I can't stop crying." I sniff and wipe the tears away from my cheeks. Ulrich doesn't respond, and after a while, I sit back in my chair.

"You're not stupid Avery."

"I beg to differ."

"What, do you think you're alone? Aelita is out there, practically sobbing into Jeremie's arms. Yumi just got here, and I know she's struggling to try and stay strong for Aelita."

"Yah well… they're Odd's best friends."

"And what are you?"

_He's got a point…_

"I'm just… he's just some boy I know from school. But I haven't been here more than two weeks and I'm bawling by his bedside in the hospital." I say, looking towards Ulrich. He just smiles at me.

"He's also the boy you've kissed at least three times, who's told you he loves you and he still does, and he also saved your life. It may have only been two weeks, but you've been through a lot in those two weeks." I run my hand through my hair, over the top of my head and hold in on the back of my neck.

"I guess you're right. He loves me, I love him… I guess maybe I do have the right… but I still shouldn't be doing this. Besides, he doesn't even know I love him."

"Oh, I'm sure he does." I look at him, desperately trying to control my emotions.

_He told him? He promised!_

"Did you tell him?"

"No, and neither did Yumi. Jeremie and Aelita are totally clueless." My temper immediately dies, and is replaced by curiosity.

"Then how does he know?"

"I don't think he knows it consciously. But trust me, he knows. Deep down, he knows. Why else would he act like this?"

"Then why doesn't he ask me out like a normal person?"

"What happened last time?" I don't respond, but the guilt is burning inside me. I know that eventually, I will have to tell him what I feel.

"Last time you shot him down, flat out cold. Why he doesn't ask you out is he's sure he'll get rejected again."

"I screwed up big time, didn't I?'

"Yah, you did. Can you tell my why you lied to him now?" I sigh, not wanting to have to go into that again.

"Let's just say that I had a relationship back in America that didn't end well. And it started almost exactly how Odd tried to start ours."

"I understand, you don't need to say anymore."

"Thanks Ulrich." I say quietly, and everyone else comes in at that moment. I realize I'm still holding Odd's hand, and think about dropping it. But I look at Ulrich, and he looks at me, and I just hold on tighter.

"How is he?" Yumi asks, her voice wavering slightly.

"He hasn't moved since I got in here. But the doctors say he should be fine." I say, looking over at Aelita. She's holding onto Jeremie pretty tightly, and she's pale.

"Don't worry Aelita, Odd will be fine. Besides, if he died, I'd have to kill him." I say smiling. She laughs weakly, as does everyone else in the room. We sit and talk a little bit, trying to keep our voices low so we don't wake up Odd, but eventually visiting hours are up. A nurse comes in to tell us it's time to go.

"Can I stay here overnight? Please?" I ask her.

"I'm sorry, but no. It's forbidden for minors to stay overnight in a hospital room."

"Please? As a favor?"

"I'm sorry, but I would lose my job. It's totally out of my hands."

"Then who can I go to? I'll ask the manager if I have to."

"Avery… it's time to go. C'mon, there's no reason for you to stay here."

"But… Odd's here."

"And he's fast asleep. We can come back first thing tomorrow morning."

"Promise?"

"We'll try our best. Now let's go." I squeeze Odd's hand once before letting go and exiting with the others.

"Good night Odd." I say quietly and close the door. By the time we get outside, Jeremie and Aelita have already headed home via a bus. Since the next one won't come for another hour (it's late at night) we decide to walk. It's not far, only about a half-hour walk to Yumi's house. We arrive but don't stay very long. Just long enough for Ulrich to give Yumi a quick kiss and promise to see her tomorrow. Then Ulrich and I head off to the school. We enter the dorm building and I stop. I've had a question burning at me ever since Yumi's house.

"Uh… Ulrich? Would you mind if I… slept in your room tonight? I would rather not be all alone right now…." I ask quietly. Ulrich looks sympathetic, and he smiles at me.

"I guess that would be okay… we just have to hurry so Jim doesn't catch us."

"Okay. Let me go to my room and change really quick." I run off down the hall and dash quickly into my room. I quickly change into blue pajama bottoms with a light gray tank top and walk back out.

"Okay let's go." He says. We run quickly and quietly upstairs and enter his room. I walk over and lay down on Odd's bed. I love the smell of it… the warmth it brings. It reminds me of Odd in every way. I bury my head in his pillow again and breathe in his scent.

"Okay, look away for a second, I'm going to change." Ulrich says. Dutifully, and without even a second thought, I turn to the wall and close my eyes.

"Thanks Ulrich for letting me sleep here. I love Odd's bed, it's so comfortable…" I mumble.

"You're welcome Avery. You can turn around now…." I lazily flip over, pulling Odd's blanket with me so it's now covering me. I didn't really want to sleep up here so I could have Ulrich as company. No, I really just wanted to be able to sleep in Odd's bed. The intoxicating aroma, so sweet, immediately makes me feel sleepy. I yawn.

"G'night Ulr…" I begin to say, but I fall into a deep slumber before I can finish.

* * *

**R&R please and thanks!**


	23. Turbo

**I WAS going to try and post this like a couple of days ago, but document manager went all spastic, like this! waves hands in circles and makes funny spazzing noises yah, like that.**

**So! Since I promised her I would, this chapter is ALSO dedicated to AngElle. I dont think she realizes that i've dedicated like three other things to her too. :P (I hope she doesn't take that the wrong way...)**

**I was going to say something else, but I was distracted and now I don't remember. Oh well, that just means we can get on with da story! **

* * *

(Avery P.O.V.) 

I woke up this morning feeling extremely happy. I'm lying on my bed, it's so comfortable, and I'm trying to fall back to sleep for a little while. I have my eyes closed and I'm breathing in Odd's scent from my pillow.

_Wait a minute, Odd's scent? Why does my pillow smell like Odd?_

I still don't want to open my eyes, but I'm puzzled beyond belief. It's almost as if Odd had come and slept on my pillow himself.

I jerk when I feel someone's hand touch my arm gently, pushing me a little bit.

"Avery… it's time to get up…." Ulrich's voice says quietly but forcefully. I sit up and open my eyes. I have to squint for a moment because of the bright light, but eventually Ulrich's face comes into focus.

"Ulrich… what are you doing in my room?" He laughs.

"Avery, you're in my room." I rub the sleep out of my eyes and look around. I'm sitting on Odd's bed in his room. My pillow, which I thought was mine, was actually Odd's. I was even using Odd's blanket.

_Well, that explains the pillow thing._

"Good morning sleepy." He says.

"What do you mean good morning? It's like 5:30!" I say loudly, looking at the clock on Odd's headboard.

"Actually, it's 6:00. Odd has his clock set back half an hour so that his alarm goes off half an hour late. That way, he can blame his clock when he wakes up late." I start laughing at Odd's insanity.

"Still Ulrich, its 6:00. I usually don't get up until at least 6:30."

"Well, I've got to go do my morning workout, and I didn't think it would be good if someone came in to find you here, alone, and asleep in Odd's bed."

"Good point. So, since when do you have a morning workout?"

"I don't. Sometimes, if I wake up in time, I do. But Yumi called earlier and asked if I wanted to have one with her. So naturally, I accepted."

"Okay. Hold on for a minute and I'll go with you." I say, getting up and stretching. "I just need to go get changed first." I quickly jog down stairs and change into some PE clothes that I had lying around. Ulrich meets me outside on the soccer field, where Yumi is waiting.

"You know Ave, you could have gone back to your room and slept for a little while longer." Yumi says. I just start stretching.

"Nah, I'm done sleeping. Besides, I should probably be here just to make sure you guys don't do anything inappropriate." I say and they both blush.

"Now what makes you think we would do that?" Yumi asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it was a joke. But then you blushed, so you probably had something of the like in mind. So, I'm staying."

"Whatever." Ulrich says casually.

"So what were you planning to do?" I ask after a moment of silence. Ulrich and Yumi both look at each other.

"Uh… we were just going to sort of… wing it." Ulrich says sheepishly. I just shake my head.

"Yah right. How about a race?" I ask, and they both nod, obviously grateful. We jog over to the starting point, and agree first one to do a full lap wins.

If I remember right, Yumi isn't much of a runner. I'm not sure about Ulrich though. I have a horrible feeling that he's an awesome runner though…

"Ready…" I say.

"Get set…" Yumi adds.

"Go!" We all yell at the same time. We all take off sprinting, and Yumi slowly falls behind. Not by much, but enough to show who the real sprinters here are. I'm still not even going full speed, but Ulrich is giving me a good run for my money.

"Is that all you got Ulrich?" I ask, breathing somewhat hard. He smiles at me.

"Not even close." He says, not even looking winded.

"Then how about we take it up a notch?" I ask, raising my left eyebrow and smiling back.

"Let's." At the same time, we both drastically increase our speed, leaving Yumi in the dust. I look back to see her slow to a stop.

"No fair!" She yells to us, grinning. She just jogs back to the starting line, obviously to be the judge.

"Come on Avery!" Ulrich yells. While I was looking back at Yumi, he sped up.

"Cheap!" I speed up faster than Ulrich to catch him, then slow back down. I don't want to use all my energy too fast. We pass the halfway mark, both still going strong.

"Okay, all cards on the table." I say, breathing hard.

"Deal." He says, breathing equally hard. I go up nearly to my full, but just shy of it. Ulrich speeds up to match my pace, and then a little bit more. He takes the lead, but he's also reached his top speed. I can just tell. I decide enough is enough. Just as we reach the last curve, I hit my top mark. Unfortunately, it's not quite enough. Ulrich and I are still going the same speed, and I'm just a little behind him.

Knowing I'm going to regret it later, I hit the turbo. I gain ground on Ulrich just fast enough to catch him just as we hit the finish line. Afterwards, we both collapse on the field, breathing like there's no tomorrow. After a couple minutes, we both sit up, looking at Yumi.

"I'd have to say Ulrich won." She says calmly.

"Yes!" Ulrich says, pumping his fist into the air and falling back onto the field.

"Then I'd have to say you're biased." I reply, falling back as well.

"Okay, so maybe I am a little bit. It was basically a tie."

"Ha, I knew it." I say to the sky because I'm too tired to get up again.

"Okay, I don't know about you, but I think I've had enough workout for today." Ulrich says slowly.

"I agree." I say quickly. Yumi just shakes her head.

"You guys are pansies." She says before running off.

"Hey!" I try to get up to chase her, but I don't have enough energy to move. I look over to see Ulrich with the same problem.

"No fair!" He yells at her. She just smiles and walks back over.

"You guys overdid it." She just says calmly. I just wave my hand at her.

"What gave you that idea?"

"Come on, you guys need to go get ready for school." Yumi says, helping us up.

"I'll see you later Yumi." I say giving her a hug.

"Bye Ave." She whispers to me. Yumi and Ulrich kiss really quick before parting. I quickly head back to my room and get ready. That definitely included a shower. I get ready for school and meet everyone in the cafeteria. I knew I shouldn't have gone over my top limit in running, now I'm exhausted.

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.)

During breakfast, I noticed a funny sight. Avery wasn't talking much, she was also yawning a lot. With about ten minutes left for breakfast, her head started drooping. She kept getting lower and lower, she almost did a face plant in her waffles. Just before she did though, I put my finger to my lips to everyone else, signaling them to be quiet. I quietly grabbed her tray and pulled it away. About 2 seconds later, her head was resting on the table and she was fast asleep.

"Jeez, how late did she stay up last night?" Jeremie asks rhetorically,

"About midnight." I respond anyway.

"How would you know?" He looks at me quizzically. At that moment, I saw Yumi walk in the cafeteria, ready for school.

"She slept in my room last night, on Odd's bed. I'll explain later, okay?" I say quickly before Yumi sits down.

"Explain what later?" She asks.

"Shhh!" I say quickly, pointing to Avery. Yumi nods, understanding the need to be quiet. I reeeaaally didn't want to explain that I slept in the same room as Avery. I don't think Yumi would take it so well. We talk quietly amongst each other before the 10 minute warning bell sounds. When it does, Yumi quietly walks to the other side of the table and stands behind Avery.

"Avery…." She says, gently pushing Avery on the shoulder.

"Hmm… leave me alone…" Avery mumbles.

"Avery, you need to wake up… it's time for class…"

"Go away Odd…." She says, waving her hand in the air slightly. Everyone chuckled slightly when she said that, but Yumi starts laughing.

"Come on Juliet, time to wake up." She says, getting no response from Avery.

"Okay Yumi, just wake her up, we need to get going." I say, and Yumi nods. She grabs Avery by the shoulders and pulls her into a sitting position.

"Okay, okay… I'm up." She says, rubbing her eyes. "Wha happened?"

"You dozed off during breakfast. Now come on, let's go!" Avery stands up and we all walk off to our first period classes. Since Avery has my first period, she sits next to me.

"Aww man…" She mumbles about halfway during class.

"What?" I whisper, putting my head down slightly.

"We were going to go visit Odd before school. I totally forgot! Why did you let me fall asleep during breakfast?" She asks me angrily.

"Hey, calm down. There wasn't time anyway."

"I guess you have a point. But we're going to go see him right after school, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

**Yah, I know it was mostly filler, but i'm going to put up the next chapter real soon to make up for it. I promise! I'll bet AngElle is gonna make me update in like... 2 days anyways.**

**haha! I found my quotes! now I owe you about... lets say like 8.**

**459. Relatives are like fish, they begin to stink after 3 days.**

**462. All generalizations are false.**

**463. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.**

**465. Where there's a will, I want to be in it.**

**466. Few women admit their age, fewer men act it.**

**467. Hard work has future payoff, laziness pays off NOW! (so true!)**

**468. According to my calculations, the problem doesn't exist.**

**469. Some people are alive only because it is illegal to kill.**

**470. Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.**

**Ha! I spoiled you and left 9. So I had better get some reviews for this chapter. Even if it's a flame. So go ahead and flame me if you wish. I like flame, it's good when used with WD-40!  
**


	24. Apologies

**Ha, I told you she would make me update! AngElle kept perstering me until finally, yes, the next chapter is here. This one is dedicated to both AngElleandFox Kitsune. A sub-dedication (if that's even possible) is to Dragon C. Chan and Daydreamer9 because they review a LOT. To the rest of you who do review a lot, keep it up and I'll dedicate a chapter to you in the future!**

**To make up for the iffy content in the last chapter, here's another one, but this one is over 2000 words long. Feel special. Actually, no. Feel spiffay.**

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) 

It's been three days since Odd first went to the hospital. We've already been there five times, and now we're headed there again for the sixth.

Mr. and Mrs. Della Robbia haven't shown up yet though. Mr. Delmas tells us that he has been unsuccessful in all his attempts to reach them. They haven't been answering the phone, and by now a letter should have reached them. No one knows where they are, but rumors are flying around school that they've deserted Odd and gone to America.

"Hey Ulrich? What are you thinking about so hard that you haven't listened to a word I just said?" Yumi says to me. I quickly snap out of it and turn to her. We're walking to the hospital, and Avery is about two blocks ahead of us. The first time we went to go see Odd, we tried to keep up with her, but she's extremely excited at any chance to see Odd.

"Oh nothing Yumi. Just Odd's parents."

"Oh, okay. I'll just stop talking then." She lays her head on my shoulder.

"No, please keep going. I'll pay attention now. Besides, I love listening to your voice, even if I'm not paying attention to a word you're saying."

"Oh, how sweet." She kisses me on the cheek. Before she can even start talking again, we reach the hospital. We walk up to the front desk.

"Hello Mrs. Cook." I say to the receptionist.

"Hello again. You're here for Odd again, I presume?" She asks smiling. She has the kind of demeanor that makes it so you can't help but like her.

"Yes Ma'am."

"Well, go on ahead. Make sure you tell the nurse if there's any change."

"We will." I say and we go on to Odd's room. We've been here enough times that the nurse, the receptionist, and even Odd's doctor knows us all by name. We head up to Odd's room and open the door, where Avery is already sitting. She's sitting next to Odd on the bed talking to him, even though he's asleep.

Odd's been asleep for all three days, he hasn't woken up once, no matter how loud we've been. The nurses say he should wake up at any time, that he isn't in a coma or anything. I think he's just making up for all the sleep he lost before. That's why Mrs. Cook told us to notify a nurse at any change. We're all waiting for Odd to wake up.

Avery is sitting, holding his hand in hers, and talking to him. Telling him all about her day, about all the classes he missed, even about how the food was. She's even stroking his hair. Most people would say she's crazy, but I know I would be doing the same thing if it were Yumi.

Jeremie and Aelita sit in a couple chairs next to the bed, and Yumi sits down on the foot of his bed. I prefer to stand, so I lean against the wall by the door.

I see Avery lean down and whisper something into Odd's ear, but suddenly she sits straight up and stares at her hand, which is holding Odd's. When she does, everyone in the room tenses up.

"Did anyone see that?" She asks quietly.

"See what?" I ask, walking over closer to the bed.

"Odd… he… he squeezed my hand."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive…" She says quietly. Avery waves me over to her, so I quickly walk over and lean next to her. She whispers into my ear.

"He squeezed my hand after I told him I loved him." My eyes widen visibly in shock. Odd must be awake.

"Odd? Are you awake?" I say loudly. There is absolutely no reaction from Odd.

"Odd, if you're awake, this isn't funny." Yumi says. Then Odd makes his first mistake. In the whole time he was asleep, he never moved, not even to roll over. But now he yanks his hand out of Avery's grasp and rolls onto his side, away from Avery.

"He's awake." I say firmly. Yumi quickly hops off the bed and runs out the door, presumably to tell the nurse.

"We know you're awake now Odd. There's no use trying to deny it." I hear a sigh come from him.

"Then I guess telling you that I'm asleep isn't going to work either." He says, rolling back onto his back. He slowly opens his eyes, squinting to get adjusted to the light.

"Odd!" Avery yells, hugging him tightly.

"Hi Avery." He says flatly, without the slightest trace of emotion. Avery doesn't seem to notice.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm starving." He says right as a nurse comes in, followed closely by Yumi.

"Oh good, you are awake. How are you feeling?"

"Like I just got hit by a steamroller. Can I get something to eat?"

"I'll get you some food in a minute." She says, walking over. She shoos us away from Odd and out the door.  
"I need to take care of some things first, then you can see him." She says. There's only four chairs in the hallway, so I let Jeremie, Aelita, Avery and Yumi take them. I stand next to Yumi.

"What do you think she's doing in there?" Aelita asks.

"I'm not sure." Jeremie replies.

"I think maybe I know…." Yumi says, and everyone looks at her expectantly.

"Odd basically just tried to commit suicide. Most likely, he's going to be set up for counseling."

"I guess you're right." We wait for a couple more minutes in silence before the nurse comes back out.

"Okay, you can see him now. But, he asked to see Ulrich alone first."

"Why me?"

"He didn't say. I'll be back in a couple minutes with something for him to eat." She says before walking off. I reach for the doorknob and Yumi grabs my arm.

"Go easy on him." She pleads with me. I just nod my head before entering.

"Hi Odd." I say when I enter.

"Hey Ulrich…" I walk over and sit down in the chair next to him.

"Ulrich… I…"

"You don't have to apologize, I already forgive you."

"No. I have been preparing for this all day, and I'm going to say it. I'm sorry for hitting you, I acted like a jerk. I know you were just looking out for me. I'm sorry." I smile.

"Apology accepted."

"Thanks Ulrich."

"Can you do me a favor now?"  
"Sure, anything."

"Can you send in Avery? I think I hurt her more than I did you."

"Of course. Can I just ask you one question though?"

"Uh, okay."

"How long have you been awake?"

"I woke up earlier today, but I fell back asleep before you came. I woke up again when Avery whispered in my ear."

"Do you know what she said?"

"No, I was too groggy. Why?" I just smile.

"No reason. I'll get her for you." I walk outside before he can say a word.

"Avery, he wants to talk to you now." I say, and Avery stands up. When she walks by, I whisper in her ear.

"He didn't hear you." Avery looks at me strangely, but I sit down in her spot and she walks in.

* * *

(Avery P.O.V.) 

I walk in and my hands are shaking. I put them in my pocket to stop them, while still trying to figure out what Ulrich meant. I really hope it meant what I thought it did, that Odd didn't hear me when I whispered that I loved him. I realize I was looking at the floor, and I look up to see that Odd is staring at me intently.

"Hi Avery." He says softly, but firmly.

"Hi Odd." I reply even softer.

"Come sit down." He says, waving his hand.

"I… sure." I consent. I walk over, but pause before I sit down. I look back at Odd and he's patting the spot next to him.

"There's room right here." He says quietly. I debate whether I should or not, but I find myself sitting next to him.

_I hate my subconscious…_

"I…I…" Odd begins, but he fades off. We sit quietly, stealing glances at each other once or twice. Finally, the nurse walking in breaks the silence.

"Odd, I brought you some- was I interrupting something?"

"No." Odd and I both say at the same time. The nurse smiles at us knowingly.

"I brought you a little bit of food. I don't want you to eat it too fast or your stomach might reject it. Go slowly."

"Thanks." Odd replies as the nurse sets the tray down.

"I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." She says before exiting.

"We're not lovebirds!" We both say loudly. We both look at each other and laugh before falling back into an uncomfortable silence again. After a couple minutes, I decide that we need to talk about something, even if it's not about what happened before.

"Here Odd, have some food. You need it." I pull the tray closer, and he grabs a little bit. After taking a sip of milk, he finally sets the cup down roughly.

"Avery, I'm sorry." He says loudly.

"You don't need to be sorry…" I say quietly, but Odd barely hears me.

"But I am sorry. I hurt you, emotionally and physically. I could have killed you."

"You never almost killed me." I contradict him.

"I did. I went into that cave knowing you had claustrophobia. Then I passed out. Did you even go in the cave?"

"Yes, I had to save you."

"I passed out in that cave. You had to come in to save me at your own personal risk. What if you had hyperventilated too much while you were in there? You wouldn't have been any better off than me. You could have died!"

"Yes, I could have. But if I hadn't taken that chance, you would have died. And now we're both okay, so it doesn't matter!"

"Yes it does! I have done nothing but cause you pain since you came here. I even hit you! I promised myself I would never hit a girl like that, but it had to be you, a girl I love…"

"Odd…"

"I'm sorry. I won't ever bring my feelings up for you again. If you don't want to see me ever again, I understand. I'm sorry you ever had to meet me, now you can go on with your life."

"Odd," I say, standing up off the bed. "there are two things I want to make sure you understand." I put my hands on my hips for emphasis.

"First, I am not sorry that I had to meet you, in fact I am glad. My life would be a lot more dull if I hadn't met you. Second, I will see you tomorrow." I walk calmly out of the room and into the hallway.

"Odd has a tray of food in there, I want you to make sure he eats it slowly. The nurse says if he eats it too fast, he might just throw it back up." I say to no one in particular. Without saying anything else, I stride off down the hall and hit the button for the elevator. I step inside and turn around to see Ulrich running towards me. I grab the door to make it stop closing until Ulrich reaches me.

"What do you want Ulrich?" He reaches the door and stops outside.

"You're not going to walk home alone, are you?"

"You bet I am." I let go of the door, and it shuts before Ulrich can stop it. As I exit the hospital, I turn around to find Ulrich behind me.

"I told you, I'm going to walk home alone."

"No, you're not. It's not safe for a girl like you to be walking home alone."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say many a guy would be very interested in taking advantage of you." He says, and I find myself blushing.

"Whatever. You can follow me if you want, but I'm not going to talk to you."

"Fair enough." Ulrich and I walk back to the dorms in complete silence.

"Goodnight Avery." He says when I reach my dorm room. He followed me all the way here.

"Goodnight Ulrich. And… thanks for walking with me. I actually did feel safer."

"No problem." Ulrich smiles at me and walks away with his hands in his pockets. I open my door and slip inside my room.

* * *

**Ha! You thought they were gonna confess, weren't yah? I fooled you!**

**Anyways, I'm not going to talk much here, I'm just going to give you a couple quotes.**

**471. Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.**

**472. There are three kinds of people in this world: Those who can count, and those who can't.**

**473. Ever stop to think and forget to start again?**

**476. No writer can capture the true essence of perfection on paper.**


	25. Released

(Avery P.O.V.)

It's been two weeks since his incident, and Odd was released from the hospital a week ago. The doctors decided that as long as he was able to feed himself, he would be fine. He gave us all strict orders to make sure Odd gets large healthy meals three times a day. After he got out of the hospital, he was set up with a counselor that he needed to go to every day.

For some strange reason, today Odd wanted me to come with him to his session. He didn't say why, just that he wanted me to come.

Relations with Odd have improved little. We talk to each other only when needed, or when prodded by from the others. That's why I was surprised when Odd asked me to come with him today. It's the first time he's talked to me since yesterday when he asked to copy down the math assignment.

We walk into the counselors office and sit down. The counselor seems like a nice lady, very prim and proper but still enjoyable.

"Well Odd, is this who you wanted to bring?" She asks when we have sat down.

"Yah, this is Avery." He says.

"Hi Avery, I'm Mrs. Strickland, the guidance counselor. I asked Odd to bring a close friend today because today is the day when I tell him he doesn't need to come anymore." She says smiling. Odd looks surprised, but still happy.

"I don't have to come anymore?" He asks incredulously. "I thought I would be coming here for years."

"Every teenager, at one time or another, has some state of depression. Whether mild or severe, most have them. Considering Odd's past record, I think maybe he just had his whole depression stage at once. He seems to have snapped out of it just fine."

"That makes sense." I say when Odd doesn't reply. I think maybe Odd knows better, and he hasn't told the counselor everything that's been going on.

"As long as you feel fine Odd, you don't have to come anymore. But if you ever feel depressed again, you come to me an we'll work it out."

"Oh… okay." He says after a minute.

"Avery, I want you to keep an eye on Odd. If he seems to down or sad, you need to come tell me. That's why I wanted you here today. Sometimes it's your friends who know best what's going on with you. Now, are you two dating?" Odd and I look at each other and blush, but we both shake our heads.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I just assumed that since Odd brought in a girl. Most people bring in someone of their own gender, but Odd isn't like most people, is he?" She asks smiling.

"Definitely not." I reply.

"Okay, you two can go on your merry way now." She says, standing up and waving us off.

"Bye Mrs. Strickland, and thanks." Odd says, and we walk out the door.

"So Odd, why did you decide to bring me?" I ask, after a couple minutes of silence.

"Why not?" He replies distantly.

"Why not Ulrich, or Jeremie, or even Yumi? You know them better."

"Well…" He doesn't reply for a minute, but I don't press him. "You saved my life. I figured I owed you something."

"Aw, how sweet." I say. "And yet, somehow creepy. I wonder how many people can say that honestly?"

"Probably not very many. I also kind of wanted to say thanks again for saving me. Even though I deliberately led you to a cave when I knew you were claustrophobic."

"You saved my life on Lyoko that one time. I just repaid you."

"I saved your life on Lyoko by sacrificing myself. Then you saved me again so we were even. Now I owe you again big time. If there is anything you need, just ask."

"Hmm, okay. How about some ice cream?" I say in my cute voice.

"Is that all?"

"Yup."

"Okay, I'll take you out for some ice cream later. As long as you don't think it's a date."

"Don't worry, I don't. And the only people who will know is the gang, but they won't rub it in, right?"

* * *

At about 7:00, we get in to breakfast. I've been hanging out with Odd all day, trying to re-establish my relations with him. So far, I've had little success. Odd just doesn't seem to be that carefree boy I first met anymore. He's changed, and I really don't like it. 

We go through the line at dinner, and I make sure Odd gets an adequate amount of food. He's been fairly compliant with that, at least. We sit down at the table next to each other.

"Hey guys, where have you been?" Ulrich asks us when we sit down.

"Nowhere really. Just wandering around school." Odd replies.

"Have you really?" He asks suspiciously.

"Yah, what were you expecting?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure…" He says, looking at me with a face that says 'you know what I mean.' I glare back at him, telling him to keep his mouth shut.

"Come on Odd, start eating." I say to Odd, and he dutifully takes a bite out of his sub sandwich. Ulrich starts laughing, and so do Jeremie and Aelita, who just sat down.

"What's so funny?" I ask completely bewildered.

"Oh nothing." Jeremie says, turning away.

"Avery, you are going to be a really good wife and mother someday." Aelita says and I blush.

"What makes you say that?" I ask indignantly.

"You just got Odd to do something you said without a second thought. Odd never does that for anyone but the principal or sometimes a teacher."

"Well, I think maybe Odd just knows what I'll do to him unless he eats all his food."

"What are you going to do, kiss him?" Jeremie says, and my face goes red as a beat. Everyone, including Odd starts laughing as I glare at Jeremie.

"You know what Avery? They're right. What are you going to do?" Odd says, and I turn to look at him. He's leaning back in his chair and has his hands behind his head.

"You," I hiss venomously, "Are going to be quiet and eat your food." I say, spitting fire. He immediately stops smiling and sets his chair down.

"Yes Avery." He says quietly and begins eating his food again, bringing another laugh out of everyone. I endure this kind of torture for about ten more minutes, until Odd finishes eating his food.

"Okay Avery, I'm done now." He says, pushing his tray away. "Let's go."

"Where?" Ulrich stops laughing long enough to ask.

"Odd owes me some ice cream. We'll see you guys later." And without another word, we leave.

I'm walking right next to Odd, but he's the one leading. I don't know my way around town very well. He leads me into a small ice cream parlor.

"This place has pretty good ice cream for a decent price." He says. We walk up to the counter.

"Yah, can we get two small ice cream cones?" Odd says.

"What kind do you want?" The cashier asks me.

"Chocolate." I reply.

"Make that two." Odd says. I reach in my pocket for some cash, but Odd grabs my arm.

"No way. This is my treat. I'm paying." He says, pulling out a couple bills.

"That will be 3.07." The cashier says, handing us our cones.

"Thank you." I say as I take it, Odd does the same. He lays a couple bills on the counter and the lady hands him his change.

"And may the lovely couple have a nice day." She says with a smile. I open my mouth to correct her, but Odd covers it with his hand, muffling all sound.

"Thank you." He says, leading me away.

We walk over to an open seat and sit down, eating our cones quietly.

"Why did you stop me?" Odd looks at me strangely.

"I told you, it's my treat, I'm going to pay." He says.

"No, not that. I meant when she called us a couple. You stopped me from correcting her."

"Well, uh… I uh…" He says stuttering. This is the kind of thing that makes me love him. Just the way he always stumbles over himself, it's adorable. Ulrich tells me that Odd is usually pretty smooth, that he hasn't heard him do this for any other girl.

Just when I was about to respond, Odd's phone rings.

"Hello?" Hey says answering it. His face quickly turns sour.

"Okay Ulrich, we'll be right there." He turns to me. "It's time to save the world again."

"Aw, but I didn't get to finish my ice cream!" I say in a whiney voice. Nevertheless, I quickly gulp down the last of it and throw away the wrapper.

"Okay, let's go." Odd smiles at me and we take off out the door.

* * *

**bwa ha ha, mini cliffy.  
**


	26. Explosive Battle

**I tried hard to update this last night, but I ran out of time. Oh well, it's here now. Before I get on a tangent and reveal the rest of the story, I'm going to stop myself. So, read the story, quick, before I ... (tangent again)**

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.)

I hobble to my feet, trying to stay conscious. That last hit really hit me hard, I'll bet anything my arm is broken. I turn around to see Yumi behind me in the clearing. A car races past her, she barely managed to get out of the way.

"Yumi!" I yell out, but there's nothing I can do. With a broken arm, I'm practically useless.

"Ulrich! Take Jeremie and Aelita to the factory! There's…" She has to stop to jump out of the way of another speeding car.

"There's no time! Hurry and go, you can't help me here!" She yells. Figuring I have no other choice, I hobble the rest of the way to the edge of the trees. Yumi is trapped by the cars, she can't make it here to the safety of the trees. I begin to jog as fast as I can, and I manage to catch up to Jeremie and Aelita.

"Xana picked a good one this time. You can't stop a speeding car." I say.

"You're right." He replies as we run across the bridge. We quickly enter the factory and go down to the control room where Avery and Odd are waiting.

"Ulrich, what happened to your arm?" Avery says, quickly running over to me. She stares at my left arm which I'm cradling against my chest.

"Xana took control of four or five cars, he used us as a driving course. One of them clipped my arm as I jumped out of the way." I say.

"Can I see?" She asks. I try to lift my arm, but I can't. It hurts too much. So I use my right arm to lift it gently towards her. She looks at me with careful eyes.

"I'm going to touch it gently, tell me if it hurts." She says, and I nod. She gently puts her hand around my arm and squeezes slightly. I feel uncomfortable, but it doesn't hurt.

"Yah, but not too bad." She looks it over a little bit, squeezing in a couple more places. Pain lances up my arm as she squeezes my wrist.

"Yah, it hurts there." After a moment, she looks up at me.

"I'm not a nurse, but I don't think your arm is broken. Your wrist is probably broken though."

"I'll live." I say, taking it back.

"Hey guys, the scanners are all warmed up and ready." Jeremie calls from the computer. I move to step into the elevator with everyone else, but Avery stops me.

"You're no good to us hurt. Stay here." She says and hits the button. Before I can respond, the door closes and the elevator drops.

I walk over to where Jeremie is sitting, and my arm is throbbing.

"…virtualization!" Jeremie says, hitting the enter key. I lean on the back of his chair, using it to prop up my injured arm.

"Okay, you guys are in the ice sector. I'm sending your vehicles." He hits the enter key a

gain, and sits back in his chair. He bumps my arm slightly, and I pull it away in pain.

"Oh, sorry Ulrich. Here, we need to make you a sling…" He trails off. Thinking quickly, I pull off my outer shirt and hand it to Jeremie.

"Use this." Jeremie takes it and ties the arms around my neck, cradling my injured arm inside it. Jeremie turns back towards the screen.

"You guys have two tarantulas to deal with. Work quickly, I don't know how it's going with Yumi."

"Okay Jeremie." Avery's voice replies. As I watch the dots that represent my friends get closer to the enemy, I can help but think:

_This isn't good…_

* * *

(Avery P.O.V.) 

Odd is flying above me on the overboard, giving cover for Aelita who's on the overwing. I'm riding down below them on the overbike, keeping a lookout for any other monsters.

"You guys have two tarantulas to deal with," Jeremie's voice says inside my head, "Work quickly, I don't know how it's going with Yumi."

"Okay Jeremie." I reply. I see the two tarantulas up ahead. They're standing slightly apart, both guns positioned and ready.

"Odd, let's make these count." I yell upwards.

"You got it Avery." He yells back down to me. He takes off to the left, I go to the right. Aelita slows down but follows me to the right. I move to the right of the tarantulas, and Odd tries to draw their attention on the left.

One opens fire on Odd, missing him completely. The other begins firing at me. I dodge a couple, but just barely. One of them hits me on the shoulder, making me swerve. I quickly screech to a halt and take off in the opposite direction.

I jump and do a flip, landing sideways on the bike. I fire one single shot, and it flies straight towards the tarantula's head. Just before it hits, the tarantula manages to fire one shot.

His shot hits my bike just as my energy blast hits its head. I tumble to the ground, skidding and rolling before I finally stop.

I turn to look at the other tarantula, Odd is having a tough time with it. It's not giving him an opening. I fire, but the shot goes high.

At the same time I did, Odd shot too. I can't see very well, but it looks like my energy ball collided with Odd's in the air. Immediately, a large explosion fills the glacier, completely destroying the tarantula. Unfortunately, it also rocketed Odd off his board, he's flying high towards me.

He collides with me, and we go spinning head over heels with each other. We must've tumbled for at least ten yards, laughing the whole way, before we finally skid to a stop. When we do, I'm on bottom and Odd is lying right on top of me, propped up by his arms. His face is mere inches from mine, and he's blushing like mad. I realize my own face is burning up as well. We lay there, staring into each other's eyes because we can't look away.

His face slowly lowers until it's almost touching mine. I close my eyes, waiting for his lips to connect to mine. I've been dreaming about it for so long…

"Guys! More monsters!" Jeremie yells at us. My eyes immediately jerk open, as do Odd's. He was just mere centimeters away…

"We're on it Jeremie." Odd says, getting off of me. He quickly stands up, giving me a hand up as well. We walk out to the center of the large glacier, but there's no monsters around.

"Jeremie, where are they?" I ask.

"I… I don't know. One crab started to appear, but then it devirtualized itself. Almost as if Xana changed his mind." Jeremie says.

"Well, when he does send them, we'll be ready." Odd says.

"Aelita!" I yell out. Aelita quickly comes out from behind a large mound of ice on the overwing. "Go for the tower! Now!" She takes off towards the still distant tower. I look at Odd, and realize he was staring at me. When I looked at him, he quickly looked away.

"Uh… Odd. We should probably go follow her." I say, and he nods his head.

"Let's go." He says, and we take off running. We jump onto another glacier, and I notice something strange.

"This one is a perfect circle…" I say, slowing to a stop in the middle.

"It is…" Odd says, looking around. Suddenly, at least thirty monsters appear in wireframe around us.

"It's a trap!" Jeremie yells. The virtualization seems to be taking longer, maybe because Xana is loading so many at once.

"Avery, when I tell you to, shoot one blast straight up. Then get down as far as possible and put up your shield." Odd says calmly as the first crabs begin to drop.

"Got it." I say. None of the crabs have fired yet, they seem to be waiting for something. Soon the last crab is virtualized and drops into the circle. They all begin to charge their lasers at once.

"Now!" Odd yells. I quickly shoot one blast up into the air and drop down. I feel Odd lay back against me as well, we both put up our shields at the same time. We now have a perfect purple circle covering us.

Exactly the same as the one before, an explosion goes off right above our heads. All the monsters are either destroyed by the force of the blast, or pushed off the edge of the glacier.

Odd lets down his shield and stands up, giving me a hand as well.

"Odd, that was genius!" I yell, hugging him. I feel myself blush as I bury my head in his chest, but I really don't care. He hugs me back and we stand there for a couple seconds. Suddenly, Odd jolts forward. I catch him underneath his arms, but his body has already vanished into wireframe. Behind him is a crab that must've been knocked onto a neighboring glacier by the blast.

"You know what?" I ask it, my temper growing out of control again.

"I've had just about enough of you!" I yell. It charges up its laser, preparing to take me out as well.

"I'm tired of you always taking Odd away from me!" I yell again. I let out a scream, letting out all my fury at once. I feel myself leave the ground, and I hover in midair. Suddenly, a blindingly white blast emanates from my body, the third explosion today. The crab and the newly formed three tarantulas are all incinerated, and I feel extreme pleasure from that. My anger dissipates, and I feel my feet hit the ground again.

I can't stand, my legs are too weak. I can't find my balance, and I hit the ground hard. As I feel the coldness of the ice seep into my body, I look back towards the tower just in time to see Aelita enter it.

Then, everything goes black.

* * *

**This chapter was... (doing word count) about 1600 words long. Not bad, I've done better. But I think I'm going to make the chapters a little bit longer after this...**

**Anyways... review people! Tell me what you think!**


	27. She Cussed!

**When you actually read this story, I will not be there to see any of your reviews. I'm going out of town from Wednesday until Saturday, so I didn't actually post this. I got AngElle to update it for me! So do me a favor and be nice to her, okay?**

**Anyways, this chapter is dedicated to everyone who was mad last time that Avery and Odd were so close to kissing but didn't make it. If I wasn't lazy, I would look it up. But I am, so I won't. Thanks to everyone!**

* * *

(Avery P.O.V.)

Suddenly, I'm awake again, and I'm walking along with Odd towards the ice cream place. Without a word, I turn to my left and hug Odd. Odd just stands there for a second, and then I pull away.

"What was that for?" He asks me.

"We didn't get to finish our hug earlier." I say smiling. He smiles back at me.

"I guess we didn't." He says. He quickly pulls out his phone.

"Hey Ulrich… you wannna come get some ice cream too? Its Aaron's, on 118th… okay, we'll see you in a few." Odd puts his phone away.

"I hope you don't mind, but I invited the gang." I smile.

"Sounds great." I say. He surprises me by grabbing my hand and pulling me into the ice cream shop.

"Hi there, just the two of you?" The lady asks.

"No, our friends will be here in a couple minutes." Odd says, still holding my hand.

"Okay then. What can I get for the lovely girl?" She asks, looking at me.

"How about a chocolate parfait?" I say.

"Okay, and for the boyfriend?" I stay quiet, and Odd looks at me strangely. I just look strangely back at him with a smile. He turns back towards the counter.

"I'll have the same." He says. He pays for them both and takes us to the same table we were at before.

"So, any reason you changed your order from last time?" He asks me, sliding my parfait across the table to me.

"Hmm… not really. But of course, it had absolutely no connection with my now knowing that you're paying for it." I say smiling. Odd sits and thinks for a second, trying to figure out what I just said.

"Hey! You mean you would have ordered this if you knew I was paying before?" I take my spoon and scoop off the top part of the parfait.

"Yah, probably." I say, popping it into my mouth. I smile back at Odd as the chocolatey goodness slides down my throat.

"Well, that's not the only thing that changed." He says, and I raise an eyebrow, having another spoonful.

"This time you didn't start to argue when she called us a couple." I smile.

"So?"

"So… why not?"

"Last time you stopped me, this time you're wondering why I didn't? You sure change you mind easily."

"Don't turn the tables on me Avery, and besides, you changed your mind more than I have today." He says. I just laugh.

"Don't worry about it Odd. Just eat your ice cream, or I will." I say. At that moment, Ulrich and everyone else walks in. Taking advantage of Odd's distraction, I reach over and scoop off the top of his ice cream, popping it into my mouth.

"Hey!" Odd says. He smiles devilishly and scoops up some of my ice cream, eating it as well.

"Oh, now it's on." I say calmly. I quickly dive across the table, but Odd grabs my hand, stopping me. He tries to get to mine, but I use my other hand to keep it away. I managed to get a scoop on my spoon, and I try to eat it, but Odd grabs my wrist. I inch my mouth closer to my spoon, trying to get it, but Odd pulls my hand away. We sit like that for a second.

Me, with one hand holding a spoon towards me, the other holding my ice cream away from Odd. Odd, one hand trying to reach my ice cream, the other stopping me from getting my spoon back to my mouth. I even have my tongue out, trying desperately to get a taste of Odd's delicious ice cream.

"Ahem." Ulrich says, walking up. "Are we interrupting something?" Odd's grip on my wrist slackens, and I quickly put my spoon in my mouth.

"O cors nopt." I say with the spoon in my mouth. Yumi, Jeremie, and Aelita walk up behind Ulrich.

"So Avery, would you care to tell us why both you and Odd are blushing?" Yumi asks with a smile. I take my spoon out of my mouth and shrug my shoulders.

"Mmm, no not really." I say with a big grin. I didn't even realize I was blushing. I scoot over, and so does Odd, so that everyone else can sit down.

"Everyone, take a hint from the great Odd. Never, and I mean ever, give a girl chocolate on purpose. Avery just got a little bit and she's already bouncing off the walls." Odd says laughing.

"I'm not bouncing off the walls. I just stole some of your ice cream. Besides, you owe me!"

"Yah, and I bought you some!" I just pout, having run out of arguments.

"So, why did Odd owe you ice cream?" Jeremie asks after a moment of silence.

"He just owed me. Long story." I say. Getting an idea, I take a piece of scratch paper and a pencil out of my pocket. I turn away from Ulrich, who is sitting next to me, and scribble something down on it.

"Hey Avery, what's that?" Odd asks. I quickly fold it up into a square.

"Uh… nothing. Here Yumi." I hand it to her. She makes sure Ulrich isn't looking and reads it, a smile crossing her face. After that she hands it to Aelita. Aelita smiles too, and puts the paper in her pocket.

"One… Two…" I say slowly.

"Three." Yumi, Aelita and I say at the same time. Simultaneously, we all reach over and steal a scoop of ice cream from the boys. Yumi from Ulrich, Aelita from Jeremie, and me from Odd.

"Hey!" All the guys say at the same time. Ulrich nods to Odd and Jeremie, and they nod back.

"Uh oh." I say, I quickly pull my ice cream away from Odd, and so does Yumi and Aelita. But the boys were too smart for us (curse me for saying that). Instead of Odd trying to get from me, Ulrich does. Instead of stealing from me, Odd scoops some from Aelita. Jeremie quickly reached across the table to steal from an unwitting Yumi.

"Hey!" We yell. This begins a whole ice cream stealing fiesta.

Everyone reaching across everywhere to steal from someone else, no matter who it was. By the time it's over, we're all laughing, we've all switched spots at least once, and there's a considerable amount of ice cream on the table. After spending about five minutes cleaning up the mess, we head outside and walk back towards the park.

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.)

"Come on Yumi, I'll take you home." Ulrich says , offering his hand to his girlfriend.

"Thanks Ulrich." She takes his hand and they walk off, fading into the darkness. At that moment, Aelita yawns rather largely, leaning against Jeremie comfortably.

"Let's go Princess, it's time for you to go back to your dorm." Jeremie says, putting his arm around her. Aelita doesn't say anything, just nods tiredly. I look around and realize that it's just me and Avery left.

"Woah, where did everybody go?" I ask somewhat stupidly. I blame my tiredness.

"Bed." Avery replies shortly with a smile. That smile still makes me want to melt into a puddle.

"Well, do you think…bed… yah go maybe we bedtime let's should." I say and smack myself on the forehead.

_Damn my stupidity._

"You think we should go to bed?" She asks, looking at me sympathetically.

"Uh yah. That."

"You're so cute when you do that."

"Do what?"

"Stumble over your words like that. It's cute. That's why I like you." She leans up and kisses me on the cheek before stepping away and blushing.

"Uh… here, I'll take you to your room." I say, offering my arm like a gentleman. She eyes it for a moment, then turns and looks to see if there's anyone around. Seeing her discomfort, I drop my arm.

"Let's just go." I say, and we begin walking. I feel the temptation to reach out and grab her hand, so I thrust my hands into my pockets like I've seen Ulrich do so many times before. Suddenly, the moon comes out from behind a cloud, illuminating our surroundings, creating a beautiful scene.

"It's breathtaking, isn't it?" She mentions, looking around.

"It is indeed. Just like you." I turn to look at her, hoping she won't hate me because of that comment. She's staring at me, her piercing green eyes scanning me. I can almost see her thinking, trying to figure me out. But she can't and it confuses her. And she hates it.

"Odd… I've been thinking…."

"Did it hurt?" I couldn't stop myself, it just came out. Avery stares at me again, not even a smile on her perfect lips.

"Odd, I'm trying to be serious. Can you be serious for a while too?"

"Okay, sure." I say.

"I've been thinking… about what you said.".

"Okay, which part? I've said a lot of things."

"Well, the part where you told me… that one thing. Remember?"

"Hmm… that one thing that I once said to you… it rings a bell. Where we at that one place? And that one guy was there? And you know, he did that one thing?" I say with a huge grin on my face. I can't help it, it's in my nature to joke around.

"Dammit Odd, I asked you to be serious!" Avery practically yells at me. I stare wide-eyed at her.

"Avery… did you just cuss at me?"

"I'm sorry Odd, but I was just trying to…."

"No, you just cussed at me! Don't worry, I'm not offended or anything, I've had plenty of girls cuss at me. But you said you didn't like swearing."

"I'm sorry I had to do that Odd. I only swear about things that I really care about. About something important."

"Okay, I'm sorry too. I'll be serious now, I promise." We walk for a few more minutes in silence.

"What did you want to talk about?" I ask her.

"It's nothing important."

"You said yourself you only cuss if it's important. Tell me."

"I-I've been thinking a lot about what you said."

"What did I say?"

"On Lyoko… when you said…." She can't seem to continue, so I help her along.

"That… that I love you?" She nods her head.

"So I thought and thought about it… and I've had a big problem with it. No one's really ever done this to me before Odd."

"You've never had a boyfriend before?" She doesn't say anything, just stares ahead blankly.

"Avery?"

"Yes, I have. But I didn't like it. Please, don't ask me about that again."

"Did it end badly?"

"Yah." She replies shortly.

"Did you love him?" She doesn't reply, but I don't press the matter.

"I thought I did." She answers, startling me. I look at her again, it looks like she's fighting tears.

"I'm sorry. I won't ask anything else."

"That's okay Odd." We keep walking in silence until we're at the edge of the park. The school is just ahead of us.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I ask her.

"Huh?" She looks at me, confused.

"You wanted to say something about… that time on Lyoko."

"Oh, yeah." She says. It looks like she doesn't know how to continue.

"Well, uh…" She stays quiet for a while.

"I was surprised when you saved me." I say, breaking the silence.

"Why?"

"My vision. I saw myself right when I got hit by the megatank. I didn't see myself push you out of the way. And I saw myself fall all the way into the digital sea."

"So?"

"I saw myself splash into the digital water. When that happened, I was deleted. But you saved me. That means my vision was wrong."

"But your visions are never wrong."

"I know. That means somehow, you changed it. I don't know how that's possible…"

"Odd, I was meaning to say from the beginning was…" She begins, but she breaks down and begins to sob.

It looked like she was trying to say it, to just blurt out whatever she wanted to say before she lost the courage… but she didn't make it.

She latches onto me, nearly knocking us down. I lift her chin until she's looking up at me.

"Just say it." I say gently.

"I-I love you."

"You-you-you… you what?" I stutter. I stare at her disbelievingly. I was sorely tempted to call out into the woods, see if Ulrich was waiting with a camera.

I had it so ingrained in my mind, so set in stone that she didn't love me. Now that she just contradicted herself, it throws my whole thought process off.

"I love you Odd." She says through her tears. I smile at her and wipe the tears from her cheeks.

"I-I love you too. And I always will, I promise." We just stand there and hold each other for a few minutes.

"Odd?" Avery says, pulling away.

"Yah?"

"Isn't there something you would like to do now?"

"Hmm, like what?" I say mockingly.

"Wouldn't you like to kiss me?"

"Nah, I can save that for later." I say and grin.

"Goddammit Odd just kiss me!" She says loudly at me. I didn't need telling twice, especially because she cussed at me again. I put my arm around her slender waist and pull her up to my level, letting my lips connect with hers.

Oh sure, we had kissed before, but not like this. I kissed her when I thought I was going to die on Lyoko. She kissed me during gym class, and when she thought I was asleep. But neither compares to the experience when both of us are returning the kiss. I won't go into detail (that's private) but I will tell you that my life was perfect at that moment. After a couple of minutes, we had to break apart for air, but neither of us wanted to. I leaned back and eyed her lovingly. She looked back with a fire in her eyes that I have never seen before.

"That was… wow." I say breathlessly.

"That was amazing." She says, also out of breath. Without another word, I take her hand and begin walking. Finally, I get the feeling of her hand in mine. Not like before, when I grabbed her hand to pull her somewhere, or anything like that. This time, I consciously grabbed it, and held her sweet hand in mine. It's so soft…

I decide it's late enough, we need to get back to bed. So I walk her to her dorm and say goodnight.

"Goodnight Odd." She says, closing the door slowly.

"What, no goodnight kiss?" I ask with a smile.

"We haven't even had the first date." She says and shuts the door. Completely bewildered, I must have stood there stupidly for at least ten seconds before I shake myself out of it.

"Girls." I say, running my hand through my tall blonde hair. I turn to walk away when I hear the door open again. I turn around to see Avery in my face. She quickly grabs me by the shirt and kisses me again. I didn't realize what she had done before she let go, walked back into her room, and shut the door. I even heard the lock click.

"Girls." I say again, still completely confused. I shove my hands in my pockets, turn around, and walk back to my dorm.

* * *

**Ha, it finally happened! Avery and Odd kissed! Bwa ha ha... review please! Tell me what you thought! Every author loves coming home to see their inbox full of reviews, it's an awesome feeling!**


	28. A Million Pieces

**Thank you SO MUCH for all the awesome reviews I got. I got 15 reviews for one chapter, that is awesome! You guys rock! I said I wanted an inbox full of reviews when I came home, and I was granted my wish. 43 messages, most of which were reviews for my stories. Thanks a bunch, I feel like the most loved writer in the world.**

**Anyways, if you thought the other stuff was fluffy, imagine what it's like when Odd and Avery are actually TOGETHER now! Read and find out.**

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

I woke up this morning, and for the first time in a long while, I feel rested. I realize that I finally slept through the whole night without waking up once. I glance at the clock, and it's 6:29. Ulrich's alarm clock goes off at 6:30.

Suddenly, all the memories of last night come flooding into my brain. I grin as I remember that I finally kissed Avery, and she kissed me back. I finally know that she does love me, she told it to me from her own mouth.

Suddenly, Ulrich's alarm clock goes off, blaring loudly. Ulrich's hand creeps out of the covers and fumbles around on his headboard for a second before finally reaching his alarm clock. He hits the snooze button and pulls his hand back.

"Ulrich, Yumi is here." I say cheerily. Ulrich throws his covers off and stares at me.

"Odd, what the hell is wrong with you? You actually sound like your old self again!"

"Wow, you didn't even look around to see if Yumi really was here. You're getting better at this."

"Woah, what's with the sudden change in mood?" I just shrug my shoulders.

"Is it because of hormones, or because you spent the whole day yesterday with Avery?" He says, and I scowl at him. I don't know why I scowled at him, it's probably a reflex.

_I'm not going to tell him yet. It'll be way more fun if it's a surprise…_

"Whatever. Let's go before the showers get crowded." I say. I grab a change of clothes and head out the door. I notice Ulrich shake his head, as if he's thinking 'nothing's changed…'

I take my shower, and head back to my room. The whole time, I pretend to be surly so Ulrich doesn't catch on, but I'm practically bursting with excitement. I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they find out.

"So… it was because of Avery, wasn't it?" Ulrich says when he gets back. I'm putting the finishing touches on my hair when he walks in, so I turn around and scowl at him again.

"Whatever. I'm going to go pick her up now, I'll see you at breakfast."

"Give Avery a nice loooong kiss for me, will you?" He says as I open the door. I just turn around and give him a thumbs up and a smile. I can barely contain my laughter as I see the surprised expression on his face before I leave and close the door.

I walk down the hall towards the stairs. When I reach the stairs, I slide down on the rail to the bottom. When I do reach the bottom, I end up falling off and landing hard on my butt. I stand up, rubbing my sore butt, when I hear laughter. I look over and see Avery laughing at me. She obviously just got back from the showers, because she's only wearing a bathrobe.

Oh, so you think that's funny do you? Well, I'll show you what's funny!" I say, running over to her. She screams and runs for her room, but I catch up to her easily. I put my arm around her waist.

"Oh, no fair. Come on Odd, I have to go get dressed…" She says.

"Oh fine… but before I forget…" I let go and she turns around to face me. I press my lips to hers and keep them there for a while.

"Woah, what was that for?"

"That was from Ulrich."

"What?" She says with a surprised expression.

"This morning when I left, he told me to give you a nice long kiss for him."

"Well, you can give him this…" She kisses me back, and walks into her room. After a split-second hesitation, I follow her in.

"You know, I don't think I can really give that to him without him thinking I'm gay."

"Then please don't give it to him. You can stay in," she says, "but you have to turn around like a gentleman."

"Aww…" I say in my whiney voice, but turn around anyway. I don't want to get on my new girlfriend's bad side this soon in the game.

Deciding to have at least a little fun, I walk backwards, still facing the door.

"See, I'm still turned around…" I say, almost walking past her. Before I can though, she turns me so I'm facing the bed.

"Sit and face the wall, I'll tell you when you can turn around." She says. Being obedient, but I have a pouting face on, I sit down.

"Am I in timeout?" I say, still in my whiney voice.

"For all intents and purposes, yes you are Odd." I spin around to face her, but I hold my hands over my eyes.

"I'm not looking…" I say grinning.

"No peeking!" She says. Despite that, I open my fingers slightly.

"Hey! I said no peeking!" I close my fingers again before I could see anything. I wait patiently for a couple minutes, but suddenly all noise stops.

"Avery? Can I look now?"

"No." She says. Suddenly, the door closes. I whip my hands off from my eyes to find myself alone in her room.

"Hey!" I yell, dashing for the door. I quickly open it and look outside to find she's running down the hall fully clothed.

"No fair!" I run after her. She's fast, almost faster than me. I catch up to her just before we reach the courtyard. I put my arm around her waist, preventing her from going anywhere, but she struggles.

"Odd! Let me go!"

"No way. You're not getting away that easily…" I quickly put my other arm under her knees and pick her up bridal style. She's still trying to squirm out of my grasp.

"Hey, hey! You can either stop squirming, or you can fall five feet to the ground." I say. Avery immediately stops squirming.

"Okay," She says in a cute voice, "I'll be a good girl now."

"That's better." I set her down, but keep one arm around her waist.

"Now, how do you propose we tell the others?" She says as we walk towards the cafeteria.

"Tell the others what?" I ask innocently.

"About us."

"What about us? We're still friends, right?" I ask, just to poke fun at her.

"Odd…"

"Okay, I'll be serious now. But… how about we not tell them?"

"What? Eventually, we're going to have to tell them."

"Yah, just not yet. I'll think of something during school. But until then, let's pretend like nothing happened, okay?"

"Oh fine…" I drop my hand from her waist and we walk inside just like normal.

* * *

(Ulrich P.O.V.) 

I watched Odd and Avery walk up to the cafeteria, but they stop just before they entered. What was most amazing was that Odd had his hand around Avery's waist, but now he dropped it.

_What the hell…_

They both walked inside, acting as though nothing was different between them.

_Something is fishy…_

"Ulrich? What's up?" Yumi asks. A quick shake of my head and a smile comes from me and Yumi looks relived.

"Nothing. Avery and Odd are here." I say, putting my arm around her waist. After a couple minutes, Odd and Avery sit down with their breakfast in their normal spots.

"So Odd, what happened last night?" I ask him. He almost chokes on his eggs.

"What do you mean?" He asks casually.

"Well, I came back and you were already in bed. So… what happened?"

"Uh... nothing. I took Avery back to her dorm and went to bed. That's it."

"Yah Ulrich, what makes you think anything special happened?" Avery asks me.

"I dunno. I was just thinking since… never mind." I say, giving in. I was about to ask why Odd's hand was around her waist, but I know better than to use my trump card at the beginning.

We go through the whole day like normal… but something seems different about Avery and Odd. No matter how many times I ask them, they always insist nothing has changed. But Avery also seems to be avoiding Odd, almost as if they had a fight.

I poked and prodded at Odd all day long, but he just gets surlier and surlier. Eventually he snaps at me, getting in trouble with the teacher.

"Ulrich!" Odd hisses at me through clenched teeth "Nothing has changed between me and Avery. Nothing!" I just stare at him for a couple more seconds before turning back to my work.

A couple minutes later, I catch him laughing silently into his hand, but he doesn't see me.

At dinnertime, the whole table is silent. No one is mad or anything, just no one seems to want to talk. Suddenly, Odd stands up and turns to Avery, who is sitting next to him.

"Okay Avery, I've been thinking about it all day, and I haven't been able to come up with anything better than this." He helps her stand up.

"Better than wha-" Aelita begins to ask, but she's cut short by Odd's next action.

Odd takes Avery and kisses her passionately, wrapping his arm around her waist.

I swear, I felt my jaw hit the table and burst into a million pieces.

* * *

**... told you it was fluffy. Review please!**


	29. Peace

(Avery P.O.V.)

"Better than wha-" If Aelita kept talking, I wouldn't know. I wasn't listening to her anyway. All I could think about was Odd's lips upon mine.

Despite being the tough boy he acts like he is, Odd has really soft lips. And I love them. Odd is such a good kisser, I would love to be kissing him forever. But, just like last night, I feel that burning sensation in my chest that tells me I'm running low on air.

I force myself to pull away so I don't pass out from lack of oxygen. I look over to see everyone else's reactions, and they're funnier than I thought they would be.

Ulrich's mouth is hanging open. Jeremie is rubbing his eyes and blinking as though he's hallucinating. Aelita is just staring straight ahead at us, but not really at us. Yumi, who joined us for dinner tonight, I think has the best expression. Her mouth is open just slightly, but she stopped just before she took a bite of food, so her fork is dangling in front of her.

"Wha… wha… what was that?" Ulrich asks.

"Guess." Odd says simply, and we sit down again.

"You two finally got together?" He asks incredulously. Yumi finally regains control over herself and lowers her fork. I nod.

"Yes!" Ulrich says, thrusting his fist into the air, "I knew it!"

"Is that why you've been acting so strange today?" Jeremie asks.

"No, of course not." Odd says sarcastically. Odd slowly inches his arm around my waist, then he pulls me close to him. Smiling, I lay my head on his shoulder.

"Aww, so cute. Avery is snuggling with Odd." Ulrich says with a grin.

"You know Ulrich, if this were any other day, I would have hit you." I say. I close my eyes, content.

Suddenly, I feel Odd's hands on my sides, and he begins to tickle me softly. I squirm, just a little, but eventually he starts tickling me harder.

"Hey, no fair!" I try to get away from him again, but he puts his arm around my waist. Using one hand, he restrains mine. Using the other hand, he pokes me in the side repeatedly. I begin to squeal.

"No fair! You're cheating!" I say loudly between squeals. I manage to squirm away from him, so I turn around to face him. He moves to poke me with one hand, and I grab it. He moves to poke me with his other, and I grab that hand too. So we're basically holding hands.

Within the blink of an eye, he grabs both of my hands with one of his, so he has one free hand and I don't.

"Oh no you don't, that's cheating." I say, but he gets a gleam in his eye.

"That's why I'm doing it." He says.

"Hey! You poke me again, and you don't get any kisses for the rest of the night!" I say.

"No fair, that's like blackmail."

"No, that's collateral. So, no more poking, alright?" He puts on a pouty face.

"Oh fine. But that means you owe me."

"Okay fine, whatever." I say. He puts his arm around my waist and pulls me next to him again. I rest my head on his shoulder and close my eyes again.

"See, I told you they would make a cute couple." I hear Ulrich's voice say from across the table.

"Yumi? Can you smack Ulrich upside the head for me?" I ask. I hear a resounding 'smack' and smile.

"Thank you."

* * *

(Odd P.O.V.) 

After dinner, we walk back in silence to Jeremie's room. None of us talk much, what is there to talk about? When we enter, Jeremie sits on his bed and pulls Aelita down with him. I sit down in the corner and Avery sits next to me. I put my arm around her waist and she snuggles in close to me. Yumi and Ulrich sit down against the wall near Jeremie's computer.

Avery slowly leans her head back on my shoulder and closes her eyes.

"Hey, don't fall asleep yet. The night has barely begun." I say, nudging her a little bit.

"Hmm… too tired…" She mumbles, almost incoherently.

"Hey Odd." Ulrich says from by the computer. He has Yumi wrapped up tightly in his arms

"Yah?" I ask.

"You know what? I was right." He says laughing slightly.

"The sad thing is, that's true." I say, and everyone laughs quietly.

"So you did tell him?" Avery asks, still not opening her eyes. Unfortunately, she basically said it to my chest, and Ulrich looks at me asking 'what was that?' with his eyes.

"She asked if you did tell me. What are you talking about?" Ulrich and Yumi look at each other and smile.

"Oh nothing Odd." He says. I stare at him for a second, and I realize what he means.

"You knew." I say softly. Ulrich nods his head. "You knew, and with all the shit I was going through you still didn't tell me? Why not?" I ask. I try not to get angry, but my temper is flaring.

Avery sits up straighter and puts her finger on my lips.

"Peace love. He didn't tell you because I asked him not to." She says softly. Instantly my temper melts away, and all I feel is the burning love for this girl next to me. I pull her finger away from my lips and kiss her softly.

"Okay guys, here's the one rule." Jeremie says from the bed. It looks like Aelita has already fallen asleep.

"I don't mind if any of you stay here for the night. The only rule is when I wake up in the morning, I don't want to find anyone naked."

"Deal." Ulrich says. Yumi and Avery both just mumble.

"Well… you said you didn't want to find anyone naked. That doesn't mean we can't just get dressed again before you wake up." I say with a smile. Jeremie stutters, Ulrich laughs, and Avery glares at me.

"You know what I- I mean of course you know that- Well Odd…" Jeremie stutters, completely thrown off balance.

"Don't worry Einstein, I know what you mean. Besides, Avery would probably call the police before I got her socks off." I say, bringing another small laugh out of everybody.

"You bet I wou-wou-would…" Avery says, yawning.

"Oh, so you would call the police on your boyfriend?"

"Hell yah I would." I don't think Ulrich or Jeremie caught it, but I did.

_Avery cussed again. I get the feeling that's how her previous relationship ended… her boyfriend did something bad and she had to report him…_

Silence envelops us all, and I have a feeling that Yumi has drifted off as well.

"Ulrich… she asleep?" I ask.

"Yup."

"Jeremie?"

"Uh huh." I look at Avery and put another arm around her.

"Avery asleep?" Ulrich asks. I can tell she isn't, even though she looks it.

"Hey baby… you asleep yet?" I ask quietly. A slight shake of the head and quiet murmuring tell me different.

"No… but she's giving it a good try." I gently stroke her long, luscious brown hair. Right now, it's pulled back into a tight ponytail, but she has two small strands that fall in front of her face. And I love it, it's beautiful.

As I pull one of the strands behind her ear, I can tell she drifts off. I don't know how, there's no physical change. But somehow, I can feel the peace coming off of her, and she's asleep.

"There she goes…" I whisper to Ulrich and Jeremie.

"They're so cute when they're asleep." Jeremie says tiredly.

"They're just so peaceful… it just…" Ulrich continues.

"And it just makes us love them more." I finish. I tighten my hold on Avery before I finally drift off into a peaceful sleep of my own.

* * *

**Sorry to everyone, but this is the end of An Odd Love. And it truly was, an odd love. I do intend to write a sequal, I just don't know how soon I will be able to. So! I bid you all a fond farewell, and for the last time this story, review!**


End file.
